Phoca vitulina Transcriptome or Gene expression. Phoca vitulina

In this study, we used transcriptomics to evaluate the brains of seven neonatal harbor seals that expired from a brain disease with an unknown cause of death (UCD). We compared UCD animals to four neonatal harbor seals with a phocine herpes virus (PhV-1) infection in the brain. Comparing these two disease states we found that UCD animals showed a significant abundance of fatty acid metabolic transcripts in their brain tissue. Furthermore, we were able to characterize the response of young harbor seals that underwent a PhV-1 infection. PhV-1 infected animals showed a significant ability to mount both an innate and adaptive immune response, especially to combat viral infections. Our data also suggests that PhV-1 can hijack host pathways for DNA packaging and exocytosis. This is the first study to use transcriptomics in marine mammals to understand host and viral interactions and assess the death of stranded marine mammals with an unknown disease. Furthermore, we show the value of applying transcriptomics on stranded marine mammals for disease characterization and identification.