{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T05:16:37Z","timestamp":1788498997851,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]],"date-time":"2026-09-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788307200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Special Fund for Science and Technology Innovation Teams of Shanxi Province","award":["202204051001035"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202204051001035"]}]},{"name":"Fundamental Research Program of Shanxi Province","award":["202303021222246"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202303021222246"]}]},{"name":"Fundamental Research Program of Shanxi Province","award":["202303021212258"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202303021212258"]}]},{"name":"Yuncheng Salt Lake Protection and Utilization Research Institute of Shanxi Province","award":["YHYJ-2023003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["YHYJ-2023003"]}]},{"name":"Doctoral Research Start-up Project","award":["YQ-2023003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["YQ-2023003"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["32300111"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32300111"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["32300111"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32300111"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Yuncheng City Science and Technology Program Project","award":["YCKJ-2024022"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["YCKJ-2024022"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Salinity is a key driver of microbial community structure and function in salt lake ecosystems, yet how it shapes functional genes involved in carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) cycling remains poorly understood. We collected metagenomic samples along a natural salinity gradient in Yuncheng Salt Lake and examined how salinity was associated with microbial taxonomic and functional diversity and with C, N, and P cycling genes. Both diversity metrics decreased significantly with increasing salinity and were positively correlated with each other. The composition and abundance of C, N, and P cycling genes differed significantly among the low-, medium-, and high-salinity groups. In carbon cycling, most carbon fixation genes were more abundant at higher salinity, whereas most carbon degradation genes were less abundant; within carbon fixation, reductive tricarboxylic acid (rTCA) cycle and Calvin cycle gene abundances were higher. In nitrogen cycling, nitrogen mineralization and assimilation genes were significantly more abundant. In phosphorus cycling, transporter and pyrimidine metabolism genes were more abundant, whereas the relative contribution of purine metabolism genes declined. Co-occurrence network analysis revealed dense positive co-occurrence associations among C, N, and P cycling genes, with mer, GLU, and ppk1 as highly connected genes. Mantel tests identified salinity and pH as the primary environmental factors associated with functional gene variation. These results suggest that salinity may regulate C, N, and P cycling genes partly by reshaping microbial community structure in salt lake ecosystems.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms14091937","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]],"date-time":"2026-09-02T07:53:11Z","timestamp":1788335591000},"page":"1937","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Metagenomic Insights into the Functional Profiles of Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus Cycles in Yuncheng Salt Lake Under Different Salinity Gradients"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Jing","family":"Yang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanxi Key Laboratory of Yuncheng Salt Lake Ecological Protection and Resource Utilization, Life Sciences Department, Yuncheng University, Yuncheng 044000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7895-9850","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhuo","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanxi Key Laboratory of Yuncheng Salt Lake Ecological Protection and Resource Utilization, Life Sciences Department, Yuncheng University, Yuncheng 044000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"software","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Chuanxu","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanxi Key Laboratory of Yuncheng Salt Lake Ecological Protection and Resource Utilization, Life Sciences Department, Yuncheng University, Yuncheng 044000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Yunjie","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanxi Key Laboratory of Yuncheng Salt Lake Ecological Protection and Resource Utilization, Life Sciences Department, Yuncheng University, Yuncheng 044000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Yajie","family":"Niu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shanxi Key Laboratory of Yuncheng Salt Lake Ecological Protection and Resource Utilization, Life Sciences Department, Yuncheng University, Yuncheng 044000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Jia","family":"Feng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Life Science, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2349-2071","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shulian","family":"Xie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Life Science, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0590-0713","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xin","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, Xinzhou Normal University, Xinzhou 034000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"wrag107","DOI":"10.1093\/ismejo\/wrag107","article-title":"Contrasting salinity regimes reshape microbe\u2013DOM coupling and reduce recalcitrant dissolved organic carbon preservation in a salt lake","volume":"20","author":"Wang","year":"2026","journal-title":"ISME J."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"109547","DOI":"10.1016\/j.soilbio.2024.109547","article-title":"Decoupling soil community structure, functional composition, and nitrogen metabolic activity driven by salinity in coastal wetlands","volume":"198","author":"Li","year":"2024","journal-title":"Soil Biol. 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