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The High Country of Southwest Colorado is littered with hundreds of inactive and abandoned mining sites. These abandoned mines are exposed to atmospheric oxygen and fill with water and leak out acidic water with high concentrations of soluble metals. Extremely acidophilic bacteria are widespread in these systems and the metabolic potential, ecological functions, and evolutionary history of microorganisms is not well studied. These local mine sites provide an opportunity to study unique iron-oxidizing microorganisms as they are rich in soluble iron (Fe3+) and some acidophiles are shown to have multiple iron uptake systems. Previously, 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing on sediment samples from these mine sites identified acidophilic microorganisms: Gallionella spp.,“Ferrovum” spp., and Acidithiobacillus spp., and Leptospirillum spp. The Acidithiobacillus genus has multiple iron uptake systems and we …