Illumina MiSeq sequenced 16S library of Microbial Community Response to Oil and Corexit in Coastal Water Mesocosms

Two independent mesocosm experiments were carried out in August (Mesocosm#1) and October of 2015 (Mesocosm#2) using coastal water collected near Galveston Bay, Texas. Four mesocosm treatments were prepared in triplicate for this study: (1) Control (seawater only); (2) WAF (oil + seawater); (3) Chemically-enhanced WAF (CE-WAF; oil + Corexit + seawater); (4) Diluted CE-WAF (1:10 dilution). Initial mesocosm volumes were 79L. Prior to experiment initiation, phytoplankton were collected from coastal Galveston, TX waters and added to each tank to stimulate interactions between phytoplankton, oil, and Corexit. Starting at time-point zero and every 12 hours thereafter, water was collected from each mesocosm in clean, opaque Nalgene bottles with PTFE-lined diaphragm pumps. DNA was extracted from filtered water samples and sequenced using barcoded primers specific for the V4 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene.