Bulk soils and biological soil crusts metagenomes. Bulk soils and biological soil crusts metagenomes

Biological soil crusts were cultivated in a potting experiment on two different soil substrates originating from the Chicken Creek catchment and the Lieberose sand dune. High-throughput shotgun sequencing was used to obtain metagenomic information on microbiomes of the bulk soils from the beginning of the experiment, and the biological soil crusts sampled after four and ten months of incubation. Functional analysis focused on genes involved in the biosynthesis and export of extracellular and capsular polysaccharides, as well as lipopolysaccharides.