DNA amplicon sequences from periphyton collected in dry RNA-preserving salts and homogenized once or multiple times

Periphyton samples were collected at Sequoia National Park (Three Rivers, California) and preserved in RNA-preserving salts mixed with river water. Samples were homogenized one, two, three, or four times for 2 minutes each, to test efficacy of different degrees of homogenization. DNA from each homogenate was extracted using the AllPrep PowerFecal Pro DNA/RNA kit (Qiagen), and the DNA quality and quantity were evaluated using the NanoDrop 2000 (Thermo Fisher Scientific) and genomic DNA Tape Station (Agilent). A portion of mitochondrial 16S rDNA gene, a short portion of the small subunit (18S) rRNA gene, or a portion of the diatoms rbcL chloroplast gene was PCR amplified from each genomic DNA sample. Amplicons were purified and indexed with Illumina sequencing adapters. Sample library pools were sent for sequencing on an Illumina MiSeq (San Diego, CA) at the Texas A&M Agrilife Genomics and Bioinformatics Sequencing Core facility using the v2 500-cycle kit (Catalog number MS-102-2003). These amplicon sequence data are published in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA) under bioproject PRJNA1249515, BioSample accession numbers SAMN47904492 - SAMN47904515.