AMIT KAMBOJ, RAVI KIRAN* AND RAJAT SANDHIR
Abstract
The aim of this work was to isolate, identify and characterize carbofuran (2, 3 - dihydro-2,2- dimethy1-7-benzofuranyl N-methyl carbamate) degrading bacteria from carbofuran pretreated rice-field soil by enrichment on the insecticide as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen. A bacterium, designated as strain N-2 capable of utilizing carbofuran as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen was isolated and characterized taxonomically as Bacillus brevis. N-2 hydrolyzes the carbamate ester linkage of the carbofuran to give carbofuran-phenol (2, 3-dihydro-2, 2-dimethy1-7-benzofuranol). Carbofuran and carbofuran-phenol were analyzed by HPLC and TLC to show that after 24 hours percentages of carbofuran and carbofuranphenol were 17.94% and 82.06% as compared to 82.06% and 17.94% respectively on the 0 day. This strain has been shown to harbour a single plasmid.