500 metagenome-assembled microbial genomes from 30 subtropical estuaries in South China.

As a unique geographical transition zone, the estuary is considered as a model environment to decipher the diversity, functions and ecological processes of microbial communities, which play important roles in the global biogeochemical cycle. Here we used surface water metagenomic sequencing datasets to construct metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from 30 subtropical estuaries at a large scale along South China. In total, 500 dereplicated MAGs with completeness ≥ 50% and contamination ≤ 10% were obtained, among which more than one-thirds (n = 207 MAGs) have a completeness ≥ 70%. These MAGs are dominated by taxa assigned to the phylum Proteobacteria (n = 182 MAGs), Bacteroidota (n = 110) and Actinobacteriota (n = 104). These draft genomes can be used to study the diversity, phylogenetic history and metabolic potential of microbiota in the estuary, which should help improve our understanding of the structure and function of these microorganisms and how they evolved and adapted to extreme conditions in the estuarine ecosystem.