biostudies-literatureUnknown5(1)Su YCellulose is the most abundant component of plant litter, which is critical for terrestrial carbon cycling. Nonetheless, it remains unknown how global warming affects cellulose-decomposing microorganisms. Here, we carried out a 3-year litterbag experiment to examine cellulose decomposition undergoing +3°C warming in a tallgrass prairie. Most cellulose-associated bacteria and fungi in litterbags were also detected in bulk soil, and bacteria in litterbags had higher community-level <i>rrn</i> copy numbers, larger genome sizes, and higher genome guanine-cytosine (GC) contents than those in bulk soil, implying higher growth rates. Warming stimulated soil respiration by 32.3% and accelerated mass loss of cellulose, concurring with the increase in relative abundances of most functional genes assISME communicationsycae152https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC11892950biostudies-literatureWarming stimulates cellulose decomposition by recruiting phylogenetically diverse but functionally similar microorganisms.PMC11892950Wu LLei JGuo XLiang ZLiu SZeng YQin WYuan MShi ZNing DYe ZGao QYang YFeng JGao YSu YZhou JfalseWarming stimulates cellulose decomposition by recruiting phylogenetically diverse but functionally similar microorganisms.Cellulose is the most abundant component of plant litter, which is critical for terrestrial carbon cycling. Nonetheless, it remains unknown how global warming affects cellulose-decomposing microorganisms. Here, we carried out a 3-year litterbag experiment to examine cellulose decomposition undergoing +3°C warming in a tallgrass prairie. Most cellulose-associated bacteria and fungi in litterbags were also detected in bulk soil, and bacteria in litterbags had higher community-level <i>rrn</i> copy numbers, larger genome sizes, and higher genome guanine-cytosine (GC) contents than those in bulk soil, implying higher growth rates. Warming stimulated soil respiration by 32.3% and accelerated mass loss of cellulose, concurring with the increase in relative abundances of most functional genes ass2025-01-01T00:00:00Z2025 Jan2025-04-04T02:21:45.551Z2025-04-04T02:21:45.551ZS-EPMC118929504006615110.1093/ismeco/ycae152