A catalog of 86,579 MAG-derived and 139,190 contig-derived biosynthetic gene clusters from Chinese saline lakes

This dataset comprises two complementary collections of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) recovered from Chinese saline lake metagenomes: 86,579 BGCs predicted from metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) and 139,190 BGCs predicted directly from assembled metagenomic contigs of at least 5 kb. The source metagenomic catalog was generated from 567 samples collected from 76 saline lakes and lake regions across China between 2018 and 2022, including 319 sediment samples and 248 water samples. The 86,579 MAG-derived BGCs retain genome-level context and can be linked to their source MAGs, genome-based species assignments and taxonomic classifications where available. The 139,190 contig-derived BGCs expand the representation of biosynthetic potential beyond BGCs recovered from MAGs and provide additional predictions from assembled contigs of at least 5 kb. BGCs were predicted using antiSMASH and are provided as annotated GenBank files. The two collections are distributed separately to preserve the distinction between BGCs with MAG-level genomic context and BGCs predicted directly from assembled contigs. These resources support comparative analyses of biosynthetic diversity, secondary metabolism, gene-cluster distribution and natural-product potential across Chinese saline lake microbial communities. The corresponding MAG nucleotide sequences are available in a separate Zenodo dataset.