Tropical Mangrove Swamp Metagenome Reveals Unusual Abundance of Ecologically Important Microbes

The tropical ecosystem is extremely rich in flora and fauna, but the tropical mangrove soil microbial diversity remains illusive. To address this knowledge gap, we characterized the metagenome of a Malaysian mangrove soil sample and its microbial ecological roles via next-generation sequencing (NGS). Shotgun NGS data analysis revealed high diversity of ecologically important microbes from bacteria and archaea domains. Also, an unusually high number of archaea was detected together with high abundance of Deltaproteobacteria. In a functional study by the SEED classification in MEGAN, virulence factor genes were abundantly present, implying that the mangrove soil is a potential reservoir of pathogens.