Abstract
A new filamentous Bacillus strain, Bacillus funiculus NAF001 (JCM 11201T=CIP 107128T) isolated from activated sludge was found to utilize sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) up to a concentration of 0.5% (dissolved SDS concentration 0.40%) . At this concentration 20% of the dissolved substrate was degraded within 5 days. At 0.2% substrate concentration (actual concentration 0.10%) 60% of the substrate could be degraded. Utilization of SDS was concomitant with cell growth indicating that SDS is utilized as the source of carbon. Though there were many earlier reports on SDS degradation, they all were by members of Pseudomonas or related species. Strain NAF001 was found to be the first strain among Bacillus spp. which degraded SDS.
