New meta-omics techniques for diagnosis of soil microbial quality

Over the past two decades, microbial ecology has not escaped the data explosion known as "Big Data", due in particular to the emergence of very high-throughput sequencing techniques, generating massive quantities of data. . The use of these new technologies, grouped together under the term "meta-omics", combined with the ability to obtain biological material (DNA, RNA, proteins) directly from an ecosystem, have made it possible to understand the ecosystem not at the scale of a single organism ("omics" methods), but by characterizing all the communities of organisms in an ecosystem. . This revolution has increased our knowledge of the complexity of the microbiome of various natural ecosystems, such as soils .

Soils play a central role in many functions, and their microbiomes provide numerous ecosystem services to maintain environmental quality, all of which are impacted by human activities. . For example, soil micro-organisms are involved in numerous biogeochemical cycles, but also in other functions such as plant productivity or pathogen barrier. In addition, it has been possible to identify a series of factors (e.g. anthropization, climate disruption) involved in changing soil quality, and consequently its microbiome.

This is why soil quality is not limited to the degree of pollution, as it is for water and air. It is defined more broadly as "the ability of a soil to function within the limits of its ecosystem and land use to maintain biological productivity, sustain environmental quality and promote plant and animal health".