Figure 2.

Assignment of unique 16S rRNA sequences from the brine-seawater interface to major bacterial taxonomic groups. Representation of the significant unique 16S rRNA OTUs obtained at the interfaces assigned to major bacterial taxonomic groups in the four brine-seawater interface layers. The graph is based on VAMPS taxonomic classification of statistically significant reads after subtracting 16S rRNA sequences shared with the ATII water column samples. Bacteria = pyrotags assigned to bacterial origin, Unknown = pyrotags assigned to an unknown origin, Bacterial taxonomic groups <5% = other bacterial taxonomic groups representing less than 5% of the pyrotag library in any of the four samples. Marine_Group_I=non-specific amplification from archaeal sequences.