16s pyrosequencing on Ossekampen grassland soil

The relationship between specific environmental factors, microbial community structures and functions is still poorly investigated. Here, we chose samples from a 54- year fertilized (N-, P-, K- and NPK- amended, including non-fertilized) field and examined 29 suits of soil chemical and physical parameters and applied next generation sequencing for 16S rRNA gene fragment and DNA shotgun-metagenomic approaches to analyze the diversity and functional characteristics of soil microbial community. Soil physicochemical parameters differed significantly among different treatments. Total community compositions shifted between different fertilizers. However, there was no fertilizer effect on the general functional profiles. Different soil parameters had significant correlations with different microbial functions. Overall, our results demonstrated functional redundancy in microbial community in soil and suggested that more detailed soil physicochemical parameters rather than pH need to be investigated. Keywords: metagenomics/ microbial community functions / microbial community structures/ environmental factors