Metagenomes and metatranscriptomes from anoxic abyssal clay of the North Atlantic Ocean

The subseafloor sedimentary biosphere is the largest ecosystem on Earth, where microbes subsist over long timescales. To resolve the diversity, abundance, metabolism and activity of microbial communities populating the deep abyssal plains, we applied high-throughput (Illumina) sequencing on both DNA (all cells) and RNA (active cells) extracted from deep sea sediments of the Northern Atlantic Ocean.