A Deep Metagenomic Snapshot as a Proof-of-Concept for Resource Generation: Simultaneous Assembly of Host, Food, and...

Characterizing the complex web of ecological interactions is a central challenge in molecular ecology. Shotgun metagenomics of environmental samples offers a powerful, high-resolution approach, yet its potential for simultaneously generating multiple genomic resources from different trophic levels remains underexplored. This study serves as a proof-of-concept, using deep sequencing of a single, complex sample-the larval food of the stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula-to demonstrate the method's capacity to recover genomic information across varying template abundances. We successfully assembled three genomes of different completeness levels: a near-complete bacterial genome (Acetilactobacillus jinshanensis, 2,097,977 bp with 0.002% ambiguous bases), a draft mitochondrial genome (T. angustula, 15,498-15,549 bp), and a fragmented chloroplast genome (Lactuca sativa, 130,532 bp with 23.47% ambiguous bases). The assembly quality gradient, observed from complete to fragmented, directly reflects the relative abundance of each DNA template in the environmental sample, demonstrating the method's sensitivity and ecological informativeness. Beyond these genomic resources, the data provided a comprehensive biodiversity profile, revealing DNA from seven major taxonomic groups, including 209 bacterial genera, 123 plant families, and 55 insect taxa. Additionally, genomic comparisons using Average Nucleotide Identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA Hybridization (dDDH) analyses suggest that the dominant bacterial strain represents a putative novel species within the genus Acetilactobacillus. This approach simultaneously provided insights into host genetics, food sources, and microbial communities, illustrating the potential of single metagenomic datasets to generate multiple valuable genomic resources for molecular ecology research.