Metagenomes and metatranscriptomes from the diffuse hydrothermal vents of Axial Seamount from 2015

This projects explores the functional diversity and activity of rocky subseafloor microbial communities in hydrothermal vent systems. Samples were collected in 2015 from three low temperature diffuse fluid vents at Axial seamount, located in the northeast Pacific Ocean. We also collected a background seawater sample away from the volcano caldera, at 1500m depth as well as within a hydrothermal plume above Anemone vent. Shotgun metagenomics and metatranscriptomics were performed on the three diffuse vent samples as well as the background and plume sample. This study helps to determine the genetic potential and expression patterns of the largely uncharacterized subseafloor microbial community and shows how these patterns change across the complicated biogeochemical gradients of hydrothermal vent systems.