The data sets were made during the summer 2021, with samples collected from three cores, at two depths (active and permafrost layers). In total, six samples (3 replicates by samples) were incubated for 67 days at two temperatures (4°C and 20°C). Core sampling were performed during the joint Russian-German LENA 2018 expedition. This data set compiles microbial quantification (DNA extraction + qPCR) for methanotrophs and methanogenic archaea. Key genes coding for the enzyme methyl coenzyme-M reductase (mcrA) (Thauer 1998) and for the enzyme particulate methane monooxygenase (pmoA) (Theisen et Murrell 2005) were examined to identify methanogens and methanotrophs, respectively. Microbial quantification was monitored at 3 different times during the incubation. Samples were collected before the incubation, after 60 days of incubation and after glucose addition. Due to the pandemic, it has not been possible to perform microbial quantification for all the samples after the glucose treatment. DNA extractions were performed with a GeneMATRIX Soil DNA purification kit according to the manufacturer's protocol. Quantification of gene copy numbers was done with a SYBRGreen quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay using the KAPA SYBRFAST qPCR Master Mix (Sigma-Aldrich, Germany) on a CFX96 real-time thermal cycler (Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc., United States). The data was collected at Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research and GeoForschungsZentrum Helmholtz-Zentrum, Potsdam, Germany.

999: below detection limit