Precursors of Sea Star Wasting: Immune and microbial disruption during initial disease outbreak in Southeast Alaska

Sea Star Wasting Disease (SSW) has devastated sea star populations along the North American Pacific coast since 2013, yet the mechanisms of disease progression, particularly in natural environments, remain unclear. Here we integrate transcriptomic and microbial data from wild Pycnopodia helianthoides sampled across sites affected and unaffected by SSW in Southeast Alaska during the initial outbreak recorded in the region in 2016. Individuals exposed to SSW but lacking visible symptoms showed elevated expression of complement system components, pathogen recognition genes, immune regulatory and cell death pathways. Alongside signs of immune activation, genes involved in maintaining extracellular matrix composition, tissue remodeling, and cell adhesion were differentially expressed, indicating early disruption of tissue homeostasis preceding visible wasting symptoms. Gene ontology analysis revealed enrichment of immune response, cell-cell adhesion, response to oxygen levels and nervous sys..., , # Precursors of Sea Star Wasting: Immune and microbial disruption during initial disease uutbreak in Southeast Alaska

## Overview

This dataset supports a study investigating early host-pathogen dynamics during the initial 2016 outbreak of Sea Star Wasting Disease (SSW) in *Pycnopodia helianthoides* (sunflower sea stars) in southeast Alaska. By integrating transcriptomic and microbial community profiles, this data was used to identify patterns of differential gene expression and microbial abundances in association with varying SSW exposure status.

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## Description of Data Files

All files are tab-separated values (`.tsv`) unless otherwise noted:

* **`geneid_annotations.tsv`**

Functional annotations (NCBI-based) for each gene ID, derived from Diamond BLASTx searches.

Data Columns:
* `geneID` - numerical identifier from reference genome
* `NCBI Annotation`
* **`transcriptID_PANTHER_GO.tsv`**

Gene Ontology (GO) annotations mapped to transcript IDs using PANTHER HMMs, bas..., ,