Functional and lncRNA changes in ovine blood monocytes and derived macrophages following paratuberculosis vaccination.

This study aimed to characterize how Gudair vaccination shapes innate immune programming in sheep by integrating functional phenotyping with lncRNA/mRNA transcriptome profiling. We generated RNA-seq datasets from circulating monocytes collected from vaccinated and non-vaccinated lambs (at 90 days post-vaccination) and quantified vaccine-associated shifts in lncRNA, including a large fraction of previously unannotated ovine lncRNAs and distinct differential expression signatures. In parallel, we assessed key antimicrobial functions relevant to early Map encounters, including phagocytosis, bactericidal capacity and oxidative burst to link transcriptional programmes with measurable effector outputs.