Tara-oceans samples barcoding and shotgun sequencing

This project relies on samples collected during the Tara Oceans and Tara Oceans Polar Circle scientific expeditions (2009-2012). The Tara schooner, equipped with innovative systems for sampling planktonic communities — from viruses to animals — collected standardized genetic (total DNA/RNA), morphological, and physico-chemical (contextual) samples from sites across the world’s oceans. These locations were carefully selected based on near-real-time remote sensing and in situ hydrographic criteria. The metagenomics component of the project includes size-fractionated plankton samples subjected to barcoding and shotgun sequencing, as well as isolated single-cell amplified protists and single metazoan organisms sequenced as reference genomes.