Chapter 11 - New Technologies for Monitoring Marine Mammal Health

Abstract

Omics technologies have been developed in recent decades and applied to different subjects, although the greatest advancements have been achieved in human biology and disease. Genome sequencing and the exploration of its coding and noncoding regions are rapidly yielding meaningful answers to diverse questions, relating genome information to protein activity to environmental changes. In the past, marine mammal genetic and transcriptional studies have been restricted due to the lack of reference genomes. But the advance of high-throughput sequencing is revolutionizing the life sciences technologies. As long-lived organisms, at the top of the food chain, marine mammals play an important role in marine ecosystems and while their protected status is in favor of conservation of the species, it also complicates the researcher's approach to traditional measurements of health. Omics data generated by high-throughput technologies will represent an important key for improving the scientific basis for understanding both marine mammal and environment health.