title: Cold-water coral microbiomes (Anthothela spp.) from Baltimore and Norfolk Canyons
design: In this study, 23 individual Anthothelidae colonies were sampled during two research cruises conducted in August 2012 and May 2013.  Sites were sampled from two canyons in the Mid-Atlantic Bight using remotely-operated vehicles.  Two polyps (~50 mg) were removed from each coral sample, and DNA was extracted from the polyps.  The bacterial and universal primers 63F (5’CAGGCCTAACACATGCAAGTC3’) and 1542R (5’AAGGAGGTGATCCAGCCGCA3’) were used to screen the samples by PCR to confirm amplification of the target 16S bacterial rRNA genes, rather than the possible amplification of coral 18S ribosomal rRNA genes.  After quantification of the DNA extracted from each sample, samples were sequenced by 454 pyrosequencing using GS FLX Titanium chemistry and V4-V5 targeting primers:  forward primer (5′ AYTGGGYDTAAAGNG) and reverse primer (5′ CGTATCGCCTCCCTCGCGCCATCAG).    The following metadata are associated with this sample:    SampleID RB688Q5 BarcodeSequence TACGAGTATG LinkerPrimerSequence AYTGGGYDTAAAGNG Plate 3008 Name RB688Q5 Species Anthothela OceanBasin Atlantic Location Norfolk_Canyon Temperature 5.82 Depth 560 Salinity 34.97 Latitude 37.024247 Longitude -74.588199