Coalescence of soil synthetic communities with diverse soil and freshwater lake microbial communities

Here, we utilized artificial soil growth systems to incubate microbiomes from distinct origins (soil and lake water) and monitored their development under the selective pressures of the soil habitat, resulting in soil-adapted communities designated as SoilCom and LakeCom. We then explored the dynamics of introducing a low-diversity synthetic soil microbial community (SynCom, composed of 21 species) into both SoilCom and LakeCom systems. Additionally, we stabilized SynCom in soil microcosms for either 2 weeks or 3 months before assessing their response to SoilCom transplant. This study examines the mechanisms underlying microbiome assembly and coalescence, offering valuable insights into soil restoration strategies that leverage soil microbiome transplants.