Monjardino, P., Azevedo, A. R., Pozsgai, G., Borges, P. A. V., Frias, J., Toubarro, D., Mendonça, D. (2026). Metagenomic Survey of Compost Archaea from Terceira (Azores Archipelago). Version 1.0. Universidade dos Açores. Occurrence dataset. https://ipt.gbif.pt/ipt/resource?r=compost_archaea&v=1.0 DOI: 10.15468/c7nrcs
Understanding the microbiome composition in compost is essential for elucidating how the process develops and how it can be improved. Compost samples were collected at the early and late thermophilic stages and at the mid-cooling and maturation stages, and their microbiomes were characterized using a shotgun metagenomic sequencing approach. Within Archaea, the kingdoms Thermoproteati, Methanobacteriati, Nanobdellati and Promethearchaeati were detected: 23 phyla, 28 classes, 47 orders, 67 families, 172 genera, and 382 species (48.91% of all 781 taxa). The genus Candidatus Nitrosocosmicus showed the highest estimated relative taxon abundance (52.83%), and this dominance was reflected at higher taxonomic ranks as well: kingdom Thermoproteati (73.85%), phylum
Nitrososphaerota (70.54%), class Nitrosoaphaeria (68.88%), order Nitrososphaerales (68.30%), and family Nitrososphaeraceae (68.30%). The inferred metabolic or ecological roles of the identified taxa during composting included: (i) ammonia oxidation and nitrification; (ii) acetoclastic, hydrogenotrophic and methylotrophic methanogenesis; (iii) syntrophic metabolisms and anaerobic degradation of organic compounds. Other roles attributed to the identified taxa but not yet proven to be related to composting are: (i) fermentation and the cycling of organic carbon, sulphur, hydrogen and methane; (ii) degradation of peptides, amino acids and fatty acids, mostly but not exclusively in anaerobic environments
