Metabarcoding of wocDNA soil mesofauna community samples of the Canary Islands
This project comprises Illumina metabarcoding libraries generated from whole-organism community DNA (wocDNA) of soil mesofauna collected across multiple sites in the Canary Islands. At each site, two soil strata were sampled: (i) the superficial layer (SUP), consisting of leaf litter and humus collected from a 1 m2 area, and (ii) the corresponding deep soil layer (DEEP), obtained by extracting approximately 20 L of soil from 25-30 cm depth (A and B horizons).Soil samples were processed following the flotation-Berlese-flotation (FBF) protocol (Arribas et al., 2016), which combines soil flotation, Berlese extraction, and subsequent filtration steps to isolate mesofaunal organisms from the organic fraction.Bulk mesofauna samples were subjected to DNA extraction using the DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit (Qiagen) on a KingFisher Flex robotic platform (Thermo Scientific). Samples were homogenized prior to extraction, and DNA extracts were quantified using a NanoDrop 1000 spectrophotometer.A 418 bp fragment from the 3' end of the mitochondrial COI barcode region (bc3') was amplified using primers Ill-B-F and Fol-degen-R with Illumina adapter tails. Three independent PCR reactions were performed per sample and pooled. Amplicons were purified using AMPure XP magnetic beads and used as template for a limited-cycle PCR to incorporate dual-index barcodes and Illumina sequencing adapters. Libraries were generated for high-throughput sequencing on Illumina platforms.