The Basque Coast Estuarine Sediment Gene Catalogue

Abstract

Estuaries are critical transition zones that link marine, riverine, and terrestrial ecosystems, including habitats like intertidal mudflats and tidal marshes. These ecosystems are biodiversity hotspots providing essential ecological functions such as nutrient cycling and pollutant removal. Despite their importance, there is a significant knowledge gap regarding the ecological functioning of these habitats and how they are impacted by anthropogenic pressures. From intertidal estuarine benthos along the Basque Coast 92 microbial metagenomic assemblies were retrieved that allowed us to reconstruct 390 medium plus 81 high quality MAGs, along with 108 million putative genes from bacteria, archaea, eukaryotes, and viruses. This unique dataset will enhance our understanding of ecosystem functioning, biodiversity, and be useful to reveal biogeochemical processes and the role of unculturable biomass.