Protist distribution in Chukchi sea in spring 2014 to study under-ice blooms (SUBICE 2014) revealed by 18S rRNA high throughput sequencing

The aim of SUBICE (Study of Under-ice Blooms In the Chukchi Ecosystem) was to determine the spatial distribution of large under-ice phytoplankton blooms on the Chukchi Shelf and the physical mechanisms that control them. One of the way to understand these processes was to study diversity and distribution of the pelagic protists using high-throughput sequencing. Seawater was collected onboard the Healy between 13th May 2014 and 23 June 2014 from 10 m or 15 m deep. Hypervariable V4 region of the rRNA genes were amplified from DNA and cDNA to reveal the pelagic protist diversity and distribution of total community (from DNA) and what is considered active community (from cDNA).