A catalogue of 1,355 high-quality reference genomes from metagenomic sequencing of the horse caecum
Horses, as one of the historically vital domesticated species to humans, are widely raised worldwide for sport, leisure, companion animal and food source. Caecum of horse is an important part of digestive system of monogastric herbivore animals, and it contains a large number of microorganisms that can break down the plant matter in the feed into energy. However, information of microbes in intestines of hindgut-fermented herbivorous animal is lacking. Here, we used high-throughput sequencing technology and Nanopore sequencing technology to sequence DNA of caecum content samples from 110 horses. After assembly and classification, a total of 1,355 bacterial and archaeal genomes were obtained, including 1,317 novel genomes  and 162 novel genera. Especially, we assembled 40 new genome of Akkermansia, belonging to 3 new phylogenetic groups.