Makumbi, John PaulBezuidt, Keoagile Ignatius OliverLeareng, LearengMakhalayane, , T.P.2026-04-162026-04-162025-04Makumbi, J.P., Bezuidt, O.K., Leareng, S.K. et al. 2025, 'Archaeal genomes linked to industrial wastewater and associated freshwater in South Africa', Microbiology Resource Announcements, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 1-5. DOI: 10.1128/mra.01079-24.2576-098X (online)10.1128/mra.01079-24http://hdl.handle.net/2263/109600DATA AVAILABILITY : The genome assemblies for the MAGs, along with the raw reads, have been deposited in NCBI GenBank (BioSample) and the Sequence Read Archive (SRA) under BioProject PRJNA1165497 with the corresponding accession numbers listed in Table 1.Archaea provide important ecosystem services including the degradation of contaminants. Here, we present archaeal genomes from understudied South African wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and associated rivers receiving industrial effluents. Functional analysis revealed key genes implicated in heavy metal degradation, offering a valuable resource for mechanistic studies on archaeal metabolism.en© 2025 Makumbi et al. This is an openaccess article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.ArchaeaWastewaterArchaeal genomesWastewater treatment plant (WWTP)Heavy metal degradationArticle