Molecular mechanisms driving soil phosphorus cycling by phosphate solubilizing bacteria with antimony resistance

To disclose the composition and diversity of native microbiomes in mining environments and clarify they adapt to different gradients of heavy metal pollution, we selected the worlds largest Sb mining area as our study area. From the central mining area to the adjacent area at different distances, we randomly collected soil samples from 30 sites to cover different levels of Sb contamination. Soil cores collected were separated into six sections, i.e., 0-5, 5-10, 10-20, 20-30, 30-40, 40-50 cm.