Reconstruction of Bacterial Metagenome-Assembled Genome Sequences from Different Lichen Metagenomes

Bacteria have recently emerged as important constituents of the lichen holobiont, which is defined as a symbiotic association of a mycobiont (fungus) and a photobiont (green alga and/or cyanobacterium). Lichens are classical models for symbiosis, now they are used to get mechanistic insights into native microbiome functioning. A high proportion of the present bacteria remains uncultivable with current approaches, thus their ecological function in globally widespread lichenized fungi is still mostly unknown. In the present study, 29 bacterial metagenome-assembled genome (MAG) sequences were constructed from three different lichenized fungi metagenomes and taxonomically classified to three phyla. This resource provides a new basis to further shed light on the ecological functions of bacterial symbionts in lichenized fungi.