Characterising deep-sea microbial diversity off the continental shelf of the Great Australian Bight.. marine metagenome

The Great Australian Bight Research Program (GABRP) is a collaboration between BP, CSIRO, the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), the University of Adelaide, and Flinders University. The Program aims to provide a whole-of-system understanding of the environmental, economic and social values of the region; providing an information source for all to use. As part of the GABRP, we aim to establish a baseline on indigenous deep-sea microbial communities, in particular, those identified as potential hydrocarbon degraders, prior to the start of oil and gas exploratory drilling or production activities in the GAB. We've used high throughput, targeted, next generation sequencing to examine the diversity and relative abundance of phylogenetic and functional marker genes in the water column and oxic surface sediments along a depth gradient of 200 to 2800 m on the GAB continental slope.