Microbial ferric iron reduction,with organic carbon or hydrogen as the electron donor,is one of the most important biogeochemical processes in anoxic paddy soils; however,the diversity and community structure of hydrogen-dependent dissimilatory iron-reducers remain unknown.Potential H2-dependent Fe(Ⅲ)-reducing bacteria in paddy soils were explored using enrichment cultures with ferrihydrite or goethite as the electron acceptor and hydrogen as the electron donor.Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis and cloning/sequencing were conducted to reveal bacterial comnunity structure.Results showed that Geobacter and Clostridium were the dominant bacteria in the enrichment cultures.Fe(Ⅲ) oxide mineral phases showed a strong effect on the community structure; Geobacter and Clostridium were dominant in the ferrihydrite treatment,while Clostridium spp were dominant in the goethite treatment.These suggested that H2-dependent Fe(Ⅲ)-reducing bacteria might be widely distributed in paddy soils and that besides Geobacter,Clostridium spp.might also be an important group of H2-dependent Fe(Ⅲ)-reducing microorganisms.