Abstract:

As part of a larger study to examine the effect of natural seepage on deep-sea corals, the effect of oil on the microbial community associated with corals was investigated. We first conducted a large-scale study to characterize the microbes associated with deep-sea corals: 421 coral colonies belonging to 42 coral morphospecies, 3 major coral taxa (Scleractinia [stony corals], Antipatharia [black corals], Alcyonacea [soft corals, gorgonians, sea whips, etc]) and zoanthid gold corals were processed. The surrounding water and sediment were sampled to compare the microbes associated with corals to microbial communities in their surroundings. These samples were collected from 36 locations, 24 deep-sea sites in the Gulf of Mexico (250-2,224m), 7 mesophotic sites in the Gulf of Mexico (60-100m), and 5 shallow-water sites in the Florida Keys and Curacao (0-20m). This dataset supports the publication: Vohsen, Samuel A., Kaitlin E. Anderson, Andrea M. Gade, Harald R. Gruber-Vodicka, Richard P. Dannenberg, Eslam O. Osman, Nicole Dubilier, Charles R. Fisher, and Iliana B. Baums. 2020. Deep-sea corals provide new insight into the ecology, evolution, and the role of plastids in widespread apicomplexan symbionts of anthozoans. Microbiome, 8(34). doi:10.1186/s40168-020-00798-w

Suggested Citation:

Vohsen, Samuel. 2020. Bacterial 16S rRNA sequences of deep-sea corals in the Gulf of Mexico, 2009-10-29 to 2019-08-23. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/VDEKRTQX

Publications:

Vohsen, S. A., Anderson, K. E., Gade, A. M., Gruber-Vodicka, H. R., Dannenberg, R. P., Osman, E. O., … Baums, I. B. (2020). Deep-sea corals provide new insight into the ecology, evolution, and the role of plastids in widespread apicomplexan symbionts of anthozoans. Microbiome, 8(1). doi:10.1186/s40168-020-00798-w

Purpose:

To characterize the microbial communities of deep-sea corals.

Data Parameters and Units:

Accession, sample_name, sample_title, bioproject_accession (PRJNA565265), organism, isolate, collection_date (DD-Mon-YY), host, lat_lon (Latitude and Longitude, degree North and degree West), depth (m), sequencing_run. colony_name, sample_id_from_cruise, site, extraction procedure, preservation and replicate.

Methods:

DNA was extracted from coral and sediment samples using Qiagen powersoil kits and form water using Qiagen Powerwater kits. Bacterial 16S rRNA sequences were amplified using universal bacterial primers specific to the V1+V2 regions (27F and 355R). Samples were sequenced on an Illumina platform using paired-end sequencing. For more detailed methods, see Vohsen et al., (2020).

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