Robbins, Stevens, Terzin, Marko, Dougan, Katherine, Zaugg, Julian, Bell, Sara, Laffy, Patrick W., Engelberts, Pamela, Lê Cao, Kim-Anh, Gruber, Renee, Webster, Nicole, Bourne, David, Hugenholtz, Philip, and Yeoh, Yun Kit (2026) The planktonic microbiome of the Great Barrier Reef. Nature, 657. pp. 426-435.

Preview

PDF (Published Version) - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (12MB) | Preview

Abstract

Large genome databases have markedly improved our understanding of marine microorganisms. Although these resources have focused on prokaryotes, genomes from many dominant marine lineages, such as Pelagibacter and Prochlorococcus, are conspicuously underrepresented. Here, we present the Great Barrier Reef Microbial Genomes Database (GBR-MGD) comprising 5,283 prokaryotic genomes obtained from GBR seawater samples using Nanopore and Illumina sequencing, including a collection of high-quality genomes of underrepresented groups. We show that standard short read assemblies miss these populations due to a combination of strain heterogeneity and low GC% sequencing bias. The GBR-MGD also comprises 20 chromosome-level picoeukaryote and 808,585 viral genomes, including a newly described clade of marine Crassvirales. We demonstrate the utility of the GBR-MGD to identify indicator taxa that can reliably predict the effects of reef management practices, such as the establishment of marine protected zones.

Item ID:	94548
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1476-4687
Keywords:	microbial ecology, microbiome, metagenomics, Great Barrier Reef, DNA sequencing, seawater
Copyright Information:	Copyright © 2026, Crown. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Funders:	Queensland Government, Australian Institute of Marine Science
Research Data:	https://apps.aims.gov.au/metadata/view/5956fd44-f864-4811-9ec3-15499f1863c4
Date Deposited:	04 Nov 2026 23:40
FoR Codes:	31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3107 Microbiology > 310703 Microbial ecology @ 80% 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410401 Conservation and biodiversity @ 20%
SEO Codes:	28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280111 Expanding knowledge in the environmental sciences @ 20% 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1805 Marine systems and management > 180502 Assessment and management of pelagic marine ecosystems @ 40% 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1805 Marine systems and management > 180504 Marine biodiversity @ 40%
Downloads:	Total: 1 Last 12 Months: 1
	More Statistics