NEON aquatic benthic microbe marker gene DNA sequences. aquatic metagenome

The goal of the NEON benthic microbial DNA sequencing project is to track changes in the diversity and composition of bacteria, archaea and fungi in benthic aquatic ecosystems through space and time. NEON collects benthic microbes from native streambed surfaces at numerous sites distributed across the United States. Total genomic DNA is extracted and the 16S and ITS regions of the rRNA cistron are sequenced using high-throughput methods.