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Grazing intensity and global warming are expected to increase in the forthcoming decades, with uncertain consequences for their interaction on grassland ecosystems and their functions. We investigated the effects of warming, grazing and their interaction in a factorial warming (+1.2–1.7 °C) and grazing (moderate intensity with ca. 50% vegetation consumption) experiment in a Tibetan alpine meadow on microbial communities by studying functional genes involved in soil carbon and nitrogen cycles, using GeoChip technology. Our results showed that microbial functional gene structure and abundances were largely affected by the interactive effect of grazing and warming, rather than the main effect of warming or grazing. Compared to the control, grazing alone significantly increased the functional gene alpha diversity, changed the overall functional community structure, and increased the abundances of C fixation …