Evaluation of Phenol Biodegradation Potential of Indigenous Soil Isolate and Characterization of its Metabolic Pathway

Among all the aromatic compounds phenol is the major constituent of soil contaminated form many industries. Toxicity of phenol is well recognized for human as well as environment. In future, microbial system is the potential tool to deal with environmental pollutants like phenol. In the present study, an aerobic bacterial culture was isolated from oil contaminated soil by enrichment technique and screened for phenol degradation. The selected microbial strain was able to degrade phenol up to 200ppm. The isolated bacterial strain metabolized phenol via meta pathway which was confirmed by catechol 2, 3dioxygenase enzyme assay. Outcome of this study offer a potential phenol degrader from the environment.