Metabarcoding and metagenomic data across aquatic environmental gradients along the coasts of France and Chile

TL;DR

This study explores microbial diversity and function in coastal marine environments across France and Chile, revealing new insights into how environmental factors shape these ecosystems.

Contribution

The study provides a large-scale, cross-regional dataset combining metabarcoding and metagenomics from diverse coastal ecosystems.

Findings

Over 53,000 ASVs and 1,372 MAGs were identified, highlighting microbial diversity across the sampled sites.

Environmental variables like salinity and temperature were linked to microbial community structure and function.

Seasonal dynamics in microbial communities were observed through monthly sampling in France.

Abstract

Coastal marine environments, such as lagoons, fjords or estuaries, experience pronounced environmental variability, with fluctuations in salinity, temperature and nutrient levels shaping microbial community structure and function. These gradients result in diverse habitats, which may harbour taxonomic and genetic novelty with biogeochemical and biotechnological relevance. To explore microbial diversity and functional potential across these dynamic ecosystems, we sampled 26 sites along the coasts of France and Chile, including lagoons, estuaries, fjords, harbours, as well as coastal and offshore marine sites. Surface waters were collected from all sites, with deeper layers included at three sites. Monthly sampling at six sites in France enabled the assessment of seasonal dynamics. In total, 116 samples were processed for both metabarcoding and metagenomic sequencing yielding over 53,000 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) and 1,372 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs). This dataset further includes a comprehensive gene catalogue and environmental variables such as salinity, temperature, nutrient concentrations, productivity, as well as oxygen consumption metrics collected across the different ecosystems.

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