Methanogenic benzene-degrading microbial community

This project provides the 16S rRNA gene amplicon pyrosequencing data of bacteria and archaea from five methanogenic benzene-degrading enrichment cultures established from sediments sampled at four geographically different sites in Japan. The sampling sites were either rivers, lakes, or paddy fields in Ibaraki, Saitama, Chiba, and Yamaguchi prefecture. Benzene was added as the sole carbon source for more than 3 years during incubation before the analysis. The microbial community structures of the enriched cultures and the seed sediments were analyzed by Roche 454 FLX Titanium platform. The sequence data of enrichment cultures were compared to each other to find common members in the microbial communities.