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Soil microbial communities play an important role in regulating land atmosphere CO2 exchange in terrestrial ecosystems. However, their responses to climate change are unclear. We explored the effects of water and nitrogen addition and their interaction on soil microbes and the resulting impacts on soil carbon emissions in the Gurbantunggut Desert, northwestern China. A manipulative 30% increase in precipitation and 5 gN m(-2) year(-1) deposition alone and in combination was applied across three years from 2011 to 2013. Water addition significantly increased microbial biomass and respiration, metabolic quotient, and the utilization of carbohydrates, carboxylic acids and amino acids. Water addition did not change the microbial community composition. Nitrogen addition only significantly increased soil bacterial PLFAs, while exerting no significant impacts on soil fungal PLFAs, microbial respiration and soil respiration. Moreover, nitrogen addition had no significant impacts on microbial community composition. Water and nitrogen addition in combination did not generate synergistic effects on microbial communities and soil respiration. Across treatments in three years, soil respiration and microbial respiration were positively correlated with microbial total PLFAs, microbial carbon utilization profiles, while being independent of microbial community structure. This study suggests water addition can increase soil carbon emission through increasing microbial utilization of labile carbon, and water plus nitrogen addition had no synergistic effects on soil microbial communities and soil respiration, demonstrating nitrogen is not a limiting factor for soil microbial communities in the scenario of increasing precipitation in this desert ecosystem. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.