Genome centric recovery of a Rhodococcus enriched draft genome from a crude-oil associated metagenome
Paired-end whole-genome sequencing reads were generated from a crude oil associated mixed bacterial DNA (metagenome) sample. The study goal was to recover and characterize a Rhodococcus-enriched draft genome to support genome-informed inference of metabolic potential relevant to hydrocarbon utilization and biosurfactant-linked lipid metabolism. Reads were quality controlled and taxonomically profiled, assembled de novo, and contig GC content, read coverage, and taxonomy were integrated to extract a high GC Rhodococcus-associated contig bin. The recovered bin was evaluated for assembly quality, refined by short-read polishing, and used for downstream annotation and biosynthetic gene cluster prediction. Raw reads and the Rhodococcus enriched draft assembly are deposited to enable reproducibility and comparative analyses.