Project description:Purpose: Identification of transcriptionally active genes in the unculturable community constituent, Smithella, during hexadecane degradation; Differential gene expression analysis of hexadecane-relevant genes acoss three different conditions; Extension of metatranscriptomic datasets to other community constituents to identify interspecies relationships. mRNA profiles were generated for this community across three different conditions (hexadecane-, butyric acid-, caprylic acid-degrading conditions) using a modified version of Nextera and sequenced using Illumina's Miseq platform.