Acid Mine Drainage Metagenome. mine drainage metagenome

High-throughput sequencing technologies are expanding our knowledge of microbial diversity in the environment. Still, understanding the metabolic potentials and ecological roles of the rare and uncultured microbes in natural communities remains a major challenge. Here we used a divide and conquer assembly strategy that partitionedfor the combined metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data (110 Gbp) into subsets based on K-mer frequency in sequence assembly, in combination with metatranscriptomic assembly to an acid mine drainage (AMD) microbial community, and successfully obtained 11 draft genomes most of which represent yet uncultured and/or rare taxa (relative abundance < 1% frequency) taxa. We reported the first composite genome of a naturally occurring Ferrovum population and its metabolic pathways, providing initial molecular insights into the ecological role of these less known but potentially important microorganisms in the AMD environment. Community gene transcriptional analysis revealed metabolic capabilities expressed in situ, including iron and sulfur oxidation which are key in energy acquisition and AMD generation, carbon and nitrogen related metabolisms associated with syntrophic interactions, and mechanisms of adaptation and response to the environmental stresses (heavy metals, low pH and oxidative stress). Remarkably, nitrogen fixation and sulfur oxidation were executed by the rare taxa, indicating their critical roles in the overall functioning and assembly of the AMD community. This study demonstrates the potential of the divide and conquer strategy for ultra-high-throughput sequencing data for the genome reconstruction and functional partitioning analysis of both dominant and rare species in natural microbial assemblages.