Brevibacterium frigoritolerans as a Novel Organism for the Bioremediation of Phorate.

Phorate, an organophosphorus insecticide, has been found effective for the control of various insect pests. However, it is an extremely hazardous insecticide and causes a potential threat to ecosystem. Bioremediation is a promising approach to degrade the pesticide from the soil. The screening of soil from sugarcane fields resulted in identification of Brevibacterium frigoritolerans, a microorganism with potential for phorate bioremediation was determined. B. frigoritolerans strain Imbl 2.1 resulted in the active metabolization of phorate by between 89.81% and 92.32% from soils amended with phorate at different levels (100, 200, 300 mg kg(-1) soil). But in case of control soil, 33.76%-40.92% degradation were observed. Among metabolites, sulfone was found as the main metabolite followed by sulfoxide. Total phorate residues were not found to follow the first order kinetics. This demonstrated that B. frigoritolerans has potential for bioremediation of phorate both in liquid cultures and agricultural soils.