Abstract: Desert grassland accounts for 46.9% of the total grassland area in Xinjiang, with different desert types in areas of different climate, each with significantly different vegetation and soil types. Three representative desert vegetation types: Seriphidium transiliense desert in the southern margin, Haloxylon persicum desert in the hinterland and Anabasis salsa desert in the northern margin of the Junggar Basin, were chosen for study. The bacterial community composition and diversity characteristics of the three desert vegetation types were analyzed and compared using a high-throughput sequencing technique. It was found that Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, and Bacteroidetes were the six dominant groups of bacteria in these Junggar Basin soils. The cumulative abundance was more than 94%. Actinobacteria had the highest relative abundance (>50%) in all three desert types, and the difference between desert types for relative abundance of Actinobacteria was not significant (P>0.05). Acidobacteria had a relative abundance in S. transiliense desert notably higher than in other desert types, while Firmicutes bundance was higher in H. persicum desert than in other desert types, and Bacteroidetes had the highest relative abundance in A. salsa desert, and these differences were significant (P<0.05). Among the three desert types, the number of bacterial operational taxonomic units in H. persicum desert was the lowest and the community diversity was the lowest. Pearson correlation and redundancy analyses showed that average annual precipitation and soil organic carbon are the most significant environmental factors affecting the composition and diversity of the bacterial communities studied.

Key words: Junggar desert, high-throughput sequencing, soil bacteria, soil nutrients