Metagenomes of the Altantic Ocean collected during the Piratas XIII expedition.

Deep oceans remain a vastly under-explored realm. Consequently we know little about the strategies that microbial communities from these habitats apply to survive in the cold, dark and oligotrophic conditions of this environment. In particular, the microbiome of the south Atlantic Ocean has been mostly neglected. This has hampered our understanding of the diversity and metabolic potential of the microorganisms that dwell in this habitat.