title: v4-16S rRNA gene sequences from Cymbastela concentrica replicates 4 to 6, direct DNA extraction from sponge tissue
design: Sponges were cut into 0.5 cm3 pieces and washed with calcium magnesium-free sea water. After washing, 1 piece was immediately stored at -80ºC for direct DNA extraction. Total community DNA was extracted using the PowerSoil®-htp 96 well DNA isolation kit. The conserved regions flanking the v4 region of the 16S rRNA gene found in bacteria and archaea were targeted using the primers 515F and 806R. PCR amplification of 16S rRNA genes and Illumina MiSeq amplicon sequencing were performed at the Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics (University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia), according to the methodology described by Caporaso et al. (2012).