A metagenomic survey of soil microbial communities along a rehabilitation chronosequence after iron ore mining

Microorganisms are useful environmental indicators, able to deliver essential insights to processes regarding mine land rehabilitation. To compare microbial communities from a chronosequence of mine land rehabilitation to pre-disturbance levels from references sites covered by native vegetation, we sampled non-rehabilitated, rehabilitating and reference study sites from the Urucum Massif, Southwestern Brazil. From each study site, three composed soil samples were collected for chemical, physical, and metagenomics analysis. We used a paired-end library sequencing technology (NextSeq 500 Illumina); the reads were assembled using MEGAHIT. Coding DNA sequences (CDS) were identified using Kaiju in combination with non-redundant NCBI BLAST reference sequences containing archaea, bacteria, and viruses. Additionally, a functional classification was performed by EMG v2.3.2. Here, we provide the raw data and assembly (reads and contigs), followed by initial functional and taxonomic analysis, as a base-line for further studies of this kind. Further investigation is needed to fully understand the mechanisms of environmental rehabilitation in tropical regions, inspiring further researchers to explore this collection for hypothesis testing.