| Summary: | The White Sea is a unique basin combining features of temperate and arctic seas. The current state of its biocenoses can serve as a reference point in assessing the expected desalination of the ocean as a result of climate change. A metagenomic study of under-ice ice photosynthetic picoeukaryotes (PPEs) was undertaken by Illumina high-throughput sequencing of the 18S rDNA V4 region from probes collected in March 2013 and 2014. The PPE biomass in samples was 0.03−0.17 µg C·L<sup>−1</sup> and their abundance varied from 10 cells·mL<sup>−1</sup> to 140 cells·mL<sup>−1</sup>. There were representatives of 16 algae genera from seven classes and three supergroups, but Chlorophyta, especially Mamiellophyceae, dominated. The most represented genera were <i>Micromonas</i> and <i>Mantoniella</i>. For the first time, the predominance of Mantoniella (in four samples) and Bolidophyceae (in one sample) was observed in under-ice water. It can be assumed that a change in environmental conditions will lead to a considerable change in the structure of arctic PPE communities.
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