Diverse organic carbon activates soil microbiome functioning via niche modulation

Considering the "One Health" framework, the soil microbial community is essential for plant, animal, and ultimately to human health (Banerjee and van der Heijden, 2023). Similar to the microbiome in human gut (Berendsen et al., 2012), the plant-associated microbiota drives key functions in agroecosystems, such as supporting nutrient uptake, suppressing plant pathogens, or improving host stress tolerance (Hartmann and Six, 2023). However, continuous monocropping run in intensified agroecosystems often leads to the loss of soil biodiversity, reduces resistance to plant pathogens, and ultimately causes the outbreak of soil-borne diseases (Tsiafouli et al., 2015; Raaijmakers and Mazzola, 2016). This represents a major threat to global food security and sustainable development in agriculture (Strange and Scott, 2005; Butler, 2013). Accordingly, soil microbiome engineering is widely recognized as a promising approach to promote plant health and agricultural sustainability (Raaijmakers and Mazzola, 2016; Hartman et al., 2018).