Linking microbial functional gene abundance and soil extracellular enzyme activity: Implications for soil carbon dynamics

Emerging evidence indicates that enzyme-catalyzed transformation and degradation of soil organic matter at the ecosystem scale is more likely driven by microbial functional gene abundance, rather than short term induction/repression responses. In this paper, we are trying to highlight the potential links between microbial functional gene abundance and soil extracellular enzyme activity. Those links will likely offer a new path for optimizing the model performance of microbial-mediated soil C dynamics from microbial functional gene perspectives.