Researchers have developed Bin Chicken, an automated algorithm designed to recover microbial genomes from low-abundance lineages that are typically missed by standard metagenomic methods. By using marker gene sequences from raw data to intelligently group samples for coassembly, the tool identifies unique genetic diversity without the need for additional sequencing costs. Applying this method to thousands of public datasets, the authors successfully reconstructed over 77,000 microbial genomes, including thousands of previously unknown species and representatives of six entirely new phyla. The study reveals that these rare biosphere organisms often possess unique anaerobic metabolisms and represent a significant expansion of the known tree of life. Ultimately, Bin Chicken demonstrates that targeted coassembly is an exceptionally efficient strategy for uncovering the vast, hidden genomic potential of the global microbiome.

References:

• Aroney S T N, Newell R J P, Tyson G W, et al. Bin Chicken: targeted metagenomic coassembly for the efficient recovery of novel genomes[J]. Nature Methods, 2025: 1-9.