Identification of Host and Viral Factors Associated with the Development of Equine Herpesvirus Myeloencephalopathy (EHM) by Transcriptomic and microRNA Analysis of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells from Horses

Transcriptomic and microRNA analysis was performed in order to analyze the expression of host (equine) and equine herpesviral genes in PBMCs of horses with and without equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy (EHM) prior to and during equine herpesvirus 1 challenge infection. mRNA and microRNA sequencing was performed on equine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from horses prior to EHV-1 challenge infection and from the same horses during peak EHV-1 viremia (n=14). Stranded mRNA cDNA libraries were created using the Illumina TruSeq Stranded mRNA kit and microRNA cDNA libraries were prepared using the Illumina TruSeq Small RNA kit. Sequencing was performed on the Illumina HiSeq 4000 in a 2 x 150 bp paired end format for mRNA libraries and 1x50 bp single read format for the microRNA libraries.