Community transcriptomic assembly reveals microbes that contribute to deep-sea carbon and nitrogen cycling.

ABSTRACT: The deep ocean is an important component of global biogeochemical cycles because it contains one of the largest pools of reactive carbon and nitrogen on earth. However, the microbial communities that drive deep-sea geochemistry are vastly unexplored. Metatranscriptomics offers new windows into these communities, but it has been hampered by reliance on genome databases for interpretation. We reconstructed the transcriptomes of microbial populations from Guaymas Basin, in the deep Gulf of California, through shotgun sequencing and de novo assembly of total community RNA. Many of the resulting messenger RNA (mRNA) contiguous sequences contain multiple genes, reflecting co-transcription of operons, including those from dominant members. Also prevalent were transcripts with only limited represe

SUBMITTER: Baker BJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3965313 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature