Protective efficacy of Bluetongue virus-like and subvirus-like particles in sheep: Presence of the serotype-specific VP2, independent of its geographic lineage, is essential for protection

► Comparison of BTV VLPs (VP2, VP3, VP5 and VP7) and CLPs (VP3 and VP7) in sheep. ► Investigated the importance of geographical lineages in vaccine development. ► VLPs prevent disease and viraemia, while CLPs only mitigated severity. ► Outer capsid (VP2 and VP5) was essential for complete protection. ► Lineage was not critical for development of a serotype specific vaccine.