Current contributions and future potential of genomics in combating marine diseases in a changing world

In an era of rapid environmental change, climate change, biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are making marine disease dynamics increasingly unpredictable. Despite their significant role in global disease transmission, marine diseases often receive less attention than those affecting terrestrial species. Managing these diseases remains challenging because of limited data and analytical frameworks that are primarily designed for land-based ecosystems. Recent advances in genetic and genomic technologies are transforming our understanding of host-pathogen-environment interactions, providing powerful tools to characterize disease processes across biological scales, from environmental to cellular. In this perspective, we discuss the insights offered by different genetic and genomic approaches, their current limitations and potential future applications, providing examples of current and emerging uses of these tools in marine systems. Although genomics is not a panacea, it offers a valuable framework for elucidating the drivers, evolution and spread of marine diseases, and for developing management strategies to mitigate their impacts on marine ecosystems. This article is part of the theme issue 'Managing infectious marine diseases in wild populations'.