A penguin’s genes provide a set of instructions that tell the body how to produce different proteins. Proteins can have many different functions, serving as enzymes, messengers, building blocks, antibodies, and more. When a penguin is stressed or sick, one of the first things that happens in its body is that genes involved in stress response or immune function are activated and transcribed into messenger RNA (mRNA). The mRNA carries the instructions from these genes out into the cell, where they are eventually translated into functional proteins. While DNA is generally fixed at birth, mRNA samples paint a picture of what is going on in a body at the moment the sample is taken. (This goes for everybody with DNA, not just penguins!).

A stressed penguin’s mRNA will look very different from that of a happy and healthy penguin. Scientists can use samples of penguin mRNA to detect stress and sickness even before any signs can be found in a clinical examination. But for this type of gene-based health diagnostics to work, you have to first have mRNA data from healthy animals to serve as a benchmark.

In a study published earlier this month, USGS scientists and partners developed these baseline genetic data for rockhopper and gentoo penguins by collecting and analyzing mRNA from wild penguins in the Falkland-Malvinas Islands and captive penguins at the Detroit Zoo. These baseline data will allow researchers, managers, and wildlife veterinarians to monitor the health of these penguins as they cope with and respond to natural and anthropogenic stressors.

Want more penguin content? Click here to check out some of the stars of this study--the Detroit Zoo penguins—on the Detroit Zoo’s penguin live cam.

Click here to read the new open-access study.

Penguins are just one type of animal USGS is studying with gene-based health diagnostics. Click here to learn about some of the others .