Deep sequencing of subseafloor eukaryotic rRNA reveals active Fungi across marine subsurface provinces.
The deep marine subsurface is a vast habitat for microbial life where cells may live on geologic timescales.Because DNA in sediments may be preserved on long timescales, ribosomal RNA (rRNA) is suggested to be a proxy for the active fraction of a microbial community in the subsurface.During an investigation of eukaryotic 18S rRNA by amplicon pyrose