library_construction_protocol: Total RNA is extracted using following phenol-chloroform and beads beating protocol.           1.Set up the following tubes: Tube 1 (2ml ): 500μL phenol/chloroform (acidic pH4.5) Tube 2 (2ml): 500μL chloroform Tube 3 (1.5ml): 40μL 3 M NaOAc pH 5.2 2.Add 150μL LET (25 mM Tris, pH 8.0, 100 mM LiCl, 20 mM EDTA) to frozen cell pellet. 3.Add 150μL phenol (water saturated pH 6). 4.Add equal volume (approx. 300μL) of glass beads (Sigma-AldrichG8772-500G) and vortex at RT in MultiMixer for 2 min at top speed. 5.Add 250μL nuclease free MQ H2O and 250μL phenol/chloroform (acidic pH4.5). 6.Vortex in MultiMixer for an additional 2 min followed by centrifugation at RT for 1 min at 14,000 rpm. 7.Remove aqueous phase (approx 450μL - top layer) and add to Tube #1. Vortex 30 sec and spin 1 min at 14,000 rpm. 8.Remove aqueous phase and add to Tube #2. Vortex 30 sec and spin 1 min at 14,000 rpm. 9.Remove aqueous phase and add to Tube #3; mix well. Add 1 mL 100% EtOH, mix, and place at -80 °C O/N or at -20 °C for 30min 10. Collect RNA by centrifugation at 4 °C for 20 min at 14,000 rpm. 11. Discard Sup and wash pellet with 500μL 70% EtOH Spin for 2 min at 14,000 rpm . 12. Discard Sup and centrifuge again for 1 min at 14,000 rpm 13. Discard Sup and centrifuge again for 1 min at 14,000 rpm 14. Remove residual EtOH by pipetting and air dry for 1-2 min 15. Resuspend pellet in 30-50μL autoclaved MQ H2O Mixture of 100ng extracted RNA for each species is used for library preparation using s5PSeq library prepartion protocol. Ribosomal RNA Hybridization: rRNA was blocked using 2 μM mixture of 146 universal blocking oligonucleotides and 20 μM of two species-specific oligonucleotides targeting the 5' ends of 16S and 23S rRNAs (Table S1). Hybridization was performed in the presence of 50 mM NaCl using the following program: 75 °C for 5 minutes, 65 °C for 5 minutes, followed by a stepwise hybridization with a temperature decrease of 3 °C every 2 minutes until 35 °C. RNA Adapter Ligation: Single-stranded RNA adapters containing unique molecular identifiers (UMIs) and barcodes were ligated using T4 RNA ligase 1, 1 mM ATP, and 1X T4 RNA ligation buffer at 25 °C for 1 hour. Ligated RNA was purified using RNA CleanXP beads (1.8X volume). Reverse Transcription and template RNA Depletion: Reverse transcription was performed using random hexamers to generate first-strand cDNA. Template RNA was degraded by incubating with 28.6 mM NaOH at 65 °C for 20 minutes. The reaction was neutralized with an equivalent concentration of Tris-HCl, and cDNA was purified using Ampure XP beads (1.8X volume). PCR Amplification and size selection: Libraries were amplified by PCR using Illumina adapters with dual barcodes (0.25 μM) and Phusion HSII master mix for 15 cycles. Libraries were size-selected using a dual size-selection strategy (0.6X–0.8X Ampure XP beads) to isolate 400–600 bp fragments. Library sequencing: Final library concentrations were quantified using Qubit DNA HS assays, and 650 pM libraries were loaded onto the Illumina NextSeq 2000 platform for sequencing.