To gain knowledge about the abundance of phage-harbored metabolic genes and the extent to which they are expressed in the marine environment, and to detect changes in viral and host populations as well as variations in gene expression, four samples were collected from the Gulf of Aqaba in the Rea Sea. gDNA, vDNA and RNA was collected in 2012 at four different time points over 24 hours. Using a unique approach, no amplification or enrichment methods were applied to any of the fractions prior to sequencing in order to limit sample-specific biases.