Fig. 3: Metatranscriptomic profiling of soil-associated Asgard archaeal genomes.

a Heatmap visualization of normalized Reads Per Kilobase per Million mapped reads (RPKM) values for ORFs with high sequence similarity (≥ 95%) to the genomes of Atabeyarchaeia-1, Atabeyarchaeia-2, and Freyarchaeia, across various soil depths. It is important to note that these samples are homogenized and do not represent biological replicates, thus they do not reflect variation across depths “see methods”. A total of 2191 open reading frames (ORFs) were categorized using the Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COG) database, with Atabeya-1, Atabeya-2, and Freya expressing 465, 804, and 922 unique ORFs, respectively. The ORFs were annotated and assigned to 15 COG categories, indicating the functional potential of each archaeal genome in situ. Columns represent metatranscriptomes from different soil depths, highlighting the spatial variability in the expression of key metabolic and cellular processes. b Expanded heatmap of Atabeyarchaeia-1 and Freyarchaeia expressed genes under the category C: Energy production and conversion. Key genes of the Wood-Ljungdahl Pathway (CODH/ACS, carbon monoxide dehydrogenase/acetyl-CoA synthase; fwdB, formate dehydrogenase; mtd, 5,10-methylene-H4-methanopterin dehydrogenase), hydrogenases and associated genes (hdrA, heterodisulfide reductase and group 3c NiFe-hydrogenase; mvh, methyl viologen reducing hydrogenase); hyaD (maturation factor); hycE and nuo-like subunits denoted with an asterisks, (group 4 NiFe-hydrogenase), ATP synthase (atpE, V/A-type H⁺/Na⁺-transporting ATPase subunit K; ntpD, V/A-type H⁺/Na⁺ transporting ATPase subunit D) and aldehyde metabolism (gor, aldehyde:ferredoxin oxidoreductases), pyruvate oxidation (porABCD, 2-pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase; pflD, pyruvate-formate lyase). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.