Metagenomic analysis of the microbial and functional diversity of the Buhera soda pans located in Zimbabwe
The Buhera soda pans are a unique, natural aquatic environment located in the Buhera district of eastern Zimbabwe. The soda pans are characterised by high alkalinity and salinity, and large quantities of carbonates, bicarbonates and sulphates. This makes the soda pans an extreme microbial habitat. This project is an aim at using metagenomics to determine the microbial diversity and functional profile of the soda pans. Metagenomic DNA was extracted and sequenced using BGI's DNBSEQ technology, producing short reads of approximately 100 bp mean size. The reads were analysed on the Knowledgebase platform, and this analysis included assembly, binning and MAG extraction and annotation.