Molecular comparison of bacterial diversity in uncontaminated and hydrocarbon contaminated marine sediment

Sediment samples which were originally collected as part of ASAC 868 (ASAC_868) are now being investigated using molecular microbial techniques as part of ASAC 1228 (ASAC_1228). Samples were collected in a nested survey design in two hydrocarbon impacted areas and two unimpacted areas. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of a region of the 16S RNA gene was used to investigate the microbial community structure. Banding patterns obtained from the DGGE were transformed into a presence / absence matrix and analysed with a multivariate statistical approach. The download file contains an excel spreadsheet, a csv version of the data, plus a readme file.