Soil samples collected from contaminated sites of Vatva, Gujarat, India were studied for screening and isolation of organisms capable of decolourizing textile dyes. A bacterial consortium RVM 11.1 was selected on the basis of rapid dye decolourization. Reactive Violet 5 (RV 5) was used as model dye. The consortium exhibited 94% decolourization ability within 37 h under a wide pH range from 6.5 to 8.5 and temperature ranging from 25 to 40°C. The bacterial consortium was able to grow and decolourize RV5 under static conditions in the presence of glucose and yeast extract and also showed an ability to decolourize in the presence of starch in place of glucose. Maximum decolourization efficiency was observed at 200 ppm (mg/l) concentration of RV 5. Bacterial consortium RVM11.1 had the ability to decolourize 10 different dyes tested. The transformation and degradation products after decolourization were examined by HPTLC.

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Three novel strains of methylotrophic Afipia felis were isolated from several locations on Signy Island, Antarctica, and a fourth from estuary sediment from the River Douro, Portugal. They were identified as strains of the alpha-2 proteobacterium A. felis by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Two strains tested were shown to contain the fdxA gene, diagnostic for A. felis. All strains grew with methanesulfonate (and two strains with dimethylsulfone) as sole carbon substrate. Growth on methanesulfonate required methanesulfonate monooxygenase (MSAMO), using NADH as the reductant and stimulated by reduced flavin nucleotides and Fe(II). Polymerase chain reaction amplification of DNA from an Antarctic strain showed a typical msmA gene for the alpha-hydroxylase of MSAMO, and both Antarctic and Portuguese strains contained mxaF, the methanol dehydrogenase large subunit gene. This is the first report of methanesulfonate-degrading bacteria from the Antarctic and of methylotrophy in Afipia, and the first description of any bacterium able to use both methanesulfonate and dimethylsulfone. In contrast, the type strain of A. felis DSM 7326(T) was not methylotrophic, but grew in defined mineral medium with a wide range of single simple organic substrates. Free-living Afipia strains occurring widely in the natural environment may be significant as methylotrophs, degrading C(1)-sulfur compounds, including the recalcitrant organosulfur compound methanesulfonate.

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