Unique genes carried by abundant species enhance CH 4 emissions during the growing season at the Tibetan Plateau

• CH 4 emission rates followed an increased pattern during the growing season at Tibetan Plateau. • Unique genes carried by abundant species were positively correlated with CH 4 emission rates. • Climate factors influenced CH 4 emission rates by regulating microbial community and their genes. Microorganisms play pivotal roles in soil methane (CH 4 ) emissions and their functional genes are origins of a key mechanism for soil CH 4 -cycling. However, understanding of the roles of specific genes (e.g., unique or shared genes carried by species) underlying CH 4 -cycling remains elusive. Here, we measured CH 4 emission rates and investigated variations in microbial community and the abundance of genes carried by species during the growing season in alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau. We discovered that CH 4 emission rates increased from 394.4, 745.9, and 1 092.7 µg CH 4 m −2 h −1 , in April, June, and August, respectively, and had a positive correlation with unique genes carried by abundant species during the growing season. Moreover, we found that unique genes carried by abundant species involved in methanogenesis processes have a higher abundance than methanotrophic processes. Further analysis indicated that climate factors (i.e., mean monthly temperature (MMT) and mean monthly precipitation (MMP)) influenced microbial community and their functional genes, and therefore affected the CH 4 emission rates. Overall, the present study provides a novel insight into the variation of soil CH 4 emissions from a functional gene perspective, highlighting the important roles of unique genes carried by abundant species in CH 4 emissions in the Tibetan Plateau under seasonal variation.