Comparative metagenomics approaches to characterize the soil fungal communities of western coastal region, Saudi Arabia

<div><p>A total of 145007 reads were obtained from pyrosequencing for all the 4 samples. The total count ranged from 11,301,014 (Mecca old road) to 23,503,512 bp (Thuwal). A total of 460 fungal species belonging to 133 genera, 58 families, 33 orders, 13 classes and 4 phyla was identified across the four sites. The most abundant phylum at all four sites was Ascomycota followed by Basidiomycota. Four phyla (Ascomycota—99.31%, Basidiomycota—0.59%, Chytridiomycota—0.04%, Glomeromycota—0.03%) were detected in Khulais. Except for Glomeromycota, all phyla were detected at Mecca old road (Ascomycota—74.26%, Basidiomycota—25.71%, Chytridiomycota—0.01%) and Thuwal (Ascomycota—99.59%, Basidiomycota—0.40%, Chytridiomycota—0.002%); while only Ascomycota—90.98% and Basidiomycota—9.01% were detected in Asfan road. At the class level, Sordariomycetes was predominantly observed at Asfan road—59.88%, Khulais—68.26% and Thuwal—94.84%; while Pezizomycetes was dominant at Mecca old road—56.01%, was absent at Asfan road. Agaricomycetes was present only at Mecca old road—25.73%; while Tremellomycetes—5.77%, Malasseizomycetes—2.13% and Microbotryomycetes—1.10% were found only at Asfan road. The phylogenetic trees revealed that clear genus level differences are visible across all the four sites, with an overall predominance of <i>Thielavia</i> followed by <i>Madurella</i>, <i>Aspergillus</i>, and <i>Gelasinospora</i>. <i>Chaetomium</i> sp., <i>Aspergillus caespitosus</i> and <i>Aspergillus</i> sp. were found in moderate (Mecca old road and Thuwal) to abundant (Asfan road and Khulais) quantities. <i>Thielavia</i> sp., <i>Thielavia hyalocarpa</i> and <i>Madurella</i> sp. are found in moderate quantities at Khulais and Mecca old road, while in abundant levels at Asfan road and Thuwal. <i>Fusarium equisati</i> and <i>F</i>. <i>oxysporum</i> were detected at Thuwal and Khulais. <i>Sordaria araneosa</i> was present at Khulais, while <i>Malasseiza globosa</i> species was detected in moderate quantities across all sites except Khulais.</p>