Rainbow trout cells (RTG-2) were inoculated in vitro with either a freshwater VHSV isolate (J167) that is pathogenic to rainbow trout or a marine VHSV isolate (1p49) that is non-pathogenic to this fish species. Samples were collected at 0, 3, 6, and 12 hours post-inoculation and transcriptomic responses analysed using RNA-seq on an Illumina HiSeq 2500, with the aim to identify the molecular mechanisms responsible for VHSV pathogenicity in rainbow trout.