Metagenomics study of soil microorganisms involved in the carbon cycle in a saline–alkaline meadow steppe in the Songnen Plain in Northeast China

Soil microorganisms play an important role in regulating and contributing to carbon cycling processes in grassland ecosystems. Soil salinization is one of the major problems causing soil degradation, and its effects on carbon cycle immobilization-related functional genes in soil microorganisms remain unknown. Therefore, we took Songnen salinization grassland as the research object, selected grasslands with different salinization levels, and explored the diversity of soil microorganisms and functional genes related to carbon cycling in Songnen grassland with different salinization levels through metagenomic technology. The results showed that with the increase of salinity, the relative abundance of