Measuring unbiased metatranscriptomics in suboxic waters of the central Baltic Sea using a new in situ fixation system.

ABSTRACT: An analysis of the microbial metabolism is fundamental to understanding globally important element transformations. One culture-independent approach to deduce those prokaryotic metabolic functions is to analyze metatranscriptomes. Unfortunately, since mRNA is extremely labile, it is unclear whether the abundance patterns detected in nature are vulnerable to considerable modification in situ simply due to sampling procedures. Exemplified on comparisons of metatranscriptomes retrieved from pelagic suboxic zones of the central Baltic Sea (70-120 m depth), earlier identified as areas of high aerobic ammonium oxidation activity, and quantification of specific transcripts in them, we show that different sampling techniques significantly influence the relative abundance of transcripts presumably

SUBMITTER: Feike J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3260512 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature