To investigate the effects of elevated $CO_2$ on the denitrifying bacterial community structure in a wetland soil, dynamics of bacterial community structure was explored in an artificial wetland ecosystem with one of three plant species (T. latifolia, S. lacustris, and 1. effusus) under two levels of $CO_2$(370 ppm or 740 ppm) after 110day incubation. For the analysis of bacterial community structure, functional genes such as nitrite reductase genes (nirS) were PCR-amplified followed by cloning of PCR products and screening by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). nirS gene fragments were amplified in all analyzed soil samples. Species richness estimated by the number of distinct phylotypes were 83 and 95 in the ambient $CO_2$ treatment and the elevated treatment, respectively. Two phylotypes (type 1 and type 2) were dominant in both of the treatments. Elevated $CO_2$ treatment increased species richness of denitrifying as well as changed a large proportion of denitrifier phylotypes compared to those of the ambient treatment. Overall, the data in this study suggested that the denitrifying communities in the wetland soil are diverse and that the richness of denitrifying bacterial community might be affected by elevated $CO_2$ treatment.