Metagenomic analysis of sediment microcosms enriched with high molecular weight - polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (HMW-PAHs)

Gulf of Mexico sediment was enriched with a mixture of high molecular weight - polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (HMW-PAHs) including benzo[a]pyrene, dibenzo[a,e]pyrene, dibenzo[a,h]pyrene, dibenzo[a,i]pyrene, dibenzo[a,l]pyrene, and dibenzo[e,l]pyrene in microcosms for four weeks. Sediment cores were collected from the Chandeleur Islands in the Gulf of Mexico on May 7, 2018, in subtidal and marsh regions of the western side of the islands where oil from the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill remains buried. Triplicate microcosm experiments were conducted in aerobic and anaerobic conditions with and without HMW-PAHs amendments. At the conclusion of the incubations, DNA was extracted from sediment aliquots and sequenced using the Illumina MiSeq platform. The accession numbers with the sample information for the sequencing of amplicon regions for Archaea, Eukaryotes, ITS, and Bacteria (V4) are included.