Iron- and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria in a treatment plant of acid rock drainage (ARD) from a pyrite mine in Yanahara, Okayama prefecture, Japan, were analyzed using the gene (cbbL) encoding the large subunit of ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RubisCO). Analyses of partial sequences of cbbL genes from Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans and Acidithiobacillus caldus strains revealed the diversity in their cbbL gene sequences. In contrast to the presence of two copies of form I cbbL genes (cbbL1 and cbbL2) in A. ferrooxidans genome, A. thiooxidans and A. caldus had a single copy of form I cbbL gene in their genomes. A phylogenetic analysis based on deduced amino acid sequences from cbbL genes detected in the ARD treatment plant and their close relatives revealed that 89% of the total clones were affiliated with A. ferrooxidans. Clones loosely affiliated with the cbbL from A. thiooxidans NB1-3 or Thiobacillus denitrificans was also detected in the treatment plant. cbbL gene sequences of iron- or sulfur-oxidizing bacteria isolated from the ARD and the ARD treatment plant were not detected in the cbbL libraries from the treatment plant, suggesting the low frequencies of isolates in the samples. (C) 2009, The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. All rights reserved.