Seawater bacterial and unicellular eukaryotic communities from the Eastern Mediterranean water column

Seawater samples were collected at various depths accross the water column, down to 1000 m, from two stations within the Cretan Passage, Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMS). The sampling expeditions took place in August 2019 and February 2020. A total of 14 samples were retrieved, covering all three water masses (AW/LSW, LIW, EMDW) which were subjected in high-throughput 16S rRNA gene analysis and 9 were selected for analysis of the 18S rRNA gene to study the diversity and associations between bacteria and unicellular eukaryotes respectively. This study's goal was to provide further insight in microbial community structure and interactions of the understudied EMS water column.