Cold seep sediments from South China Sea metagenome assembly Metagenome. Cold seep sediments from South China Sea metagenome assembly

Cold seeps are hotspots for productivity and biodiversity. Various hydrocarbons seepage stimulates microbial activity in surrounding sediments. Studies have characterized the diversity of sediment-inhabiting microorganisms, and many taxa were distinct from those whose physiologies have been described. Here, we resolved the metabolic potential and community-level interactions of these diverse communities. Therefore, we performed metagenomic sequencing of sediment samples in the Haima cold seep area in the South China Sea, and further reconstructed microbial genomes from the generated sequencing data.