Abstract
Soil degradation is a serious global problem, but little is known about how soil microbial communities respond to soil degradation as well as their feedback to ecosystem functioning. In this study, we found the microbial community composition, structure and functional potential significantly altered in the degraded soils with bacterial wilt (termed as degraded soils). Compared with healthy soils, OTU richness of beneficial microorganisms were significantly decreased, but OTU richness of pathogenic microorganisms were significantly increased in the degraded soils. Functional gene array (GeoChip 5.0) analysis showed the functional metabolic potential of genes involved in stress, virulence, sulfur cycle, metal resistance, degradation of plant cell wall was significantly increased in the degraded soils. Increased functional metabolic potential of these genes may be related to the acidification and severe plant disease of degraded soils. Biological activity of degraded soils was obviously decreased with weakened soil enzyme activities when compared to the healthy soils. Soil pH and enzyme activities were negatively correlated with the abundance of genes involved in sulfur cycle, virulence, and stress responses. This study provides new insights into our understanding of soil microbial community responses to soil degradation.