Eukaryotic communities of brackish and saline water bodies of Cis-Urals region (Russia) studied with 18S metagenomic sequencing on the Illumina platform (Miseq)

Eukaryotic communities have been studied in the brackish and saline water bodies of Orenburg and Chelyabinsk regions (Cis-Urals, Russia). Near-bottom water samples were taken in 2015 from brackish and saline lakes and small ponds with mineralization 2-22 promille. Total DNA was extracted with homogenization and subsequent washing in 80% ethanol. 18S libraries were prepared with special constructed centrohelid-specific primers to V4 SSU region. The DNA libraries were sequenced on the Illumina platform (Miseq) with 2*300 bp kit. Bioinformatic treatment included merging of pare-end reads, filtration by length and quality, dereplication and clasterization into OTUs at 97% level.