Cold seeps on the passive, northern U.S. Atlantic Margin host global members of the seep microbiome with locally dominant strains of archaea. USAM cold seep sequences

Marine cold seeps harbor key microbial players in carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen cycling, and have historically been found and studied primarily on tectonically active continental margins. However, recent discoveries have revealed an abundance of seeps on passive margins as well, some fed by temperature-sensitive gas hydrates. Here, we characterized the sediment porewater geochemistry and microbial communities at four hydrate-influenced cold seep sites on the passive, northern U.S. Atlantic Margin (USAM). We investigated the archaeal and bacterial community composition (DNA) and potential translational activity (RNA), as well as that of the methane-cycling community members specifically, via amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA and mcrA genes.