rhizosphere soil from three fields adjacent to mining areas growing different crops (corn, rice, and soybean) Raw sequence reads. rhizosphere soil from three fields adjacent to mining areas growing different crops (corn, rice, and soybean)

Rhizosphere microbiota play an important role in sustaining plant growth. In arable soils contaminated by mining activities, the response of rhizosphere microbial communities to metal(loid)s contamination is important biogeochemical processes which is closely related to food safety. However, our current understanding of these processes remains a challenge. Here we took rhizosphere soil samples from three fields adjacent to mining areas growing different crops (corn, rice, and soybean) to study the interactions among innate microbiota, soil physical and chemical properties, plants and metal(loid) contamination.On the whole, these soils were heavily contaminated by multiple metal(loid)s including V, Cr, Cu, Sb, Pb, Cd, and As. The indicator species at genus and OTU level of different crops were pinpointed and used to investigate the interactions between metal(loid) concentrations and microbial communities in each crop. Statistical tools indicated the dynamic interactions between environmental parameters and microbial communities. More specially, we observe the metal-microbe interactions within three crops with V and Cr strongly affecting the microbial communities.