<p>Muhammad Munir, Gulzeb, Asif&nbsp;             <style type="text/css">
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mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">Foot and mouth disease (FMD) remained an endemic disease in Pakistani livestock population during 2011 and 2012. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes">&nbsp;</span>To ascertain the genetic nature of circulating FMD virus, samples were collected from suspected outbreaks in Southern Punjab. The virus was primarily detected with RT-PCR with P1/P2 and 1F/1R universal primer pairs directly from field samples including tissues, vesicle and secretion. The direct sequencing and subsequent analysis of amplified PCR products for VP1 gene indicated the circulation of O serotype of FMD in studied areas. Moreover, The SA<sub>(F)</sub>/SA<sub>(R)</sub> designed O serotype specific primer were confirmed serotype O in all representative samples. The PCR product of SA<sub>(F)</sub>/SA<sub>(R) </sub>has targeted the complete VP1 gene, which is most variable region in FMD genome. The nucleotide sequences representative to different areas were found 98% similar to each other and clustered into PanAsian II lineage of FMD O serotype along with previous isolates of Pakistan. These isolates have homology with previous isolates of Pakistan such as <span style="color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">O/PAK Lahore vaccine</span>, Afghanistan, Iran, India, Nepal and Bhutan. The network analysis of complete VP1 gene nucleotide sequence with other sixty PanAsian II isolates demonstrated central node with some <span style="color:black;
mso-themecolor:text1">Nepal 2003, Bhutan 2004, Pakistani, Afghan and Iranian isolates. The O/PAK Lahore vaccine was at two mutations from central node, while</span> <span style="color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">HE647819 and <span style="background:white">HE647820 </span>were clustered into a separate single taxon at eightieth (80) mutations from central node.</span></span></p>