Influence of pH, temperature and glucose on biodegradation of 4-aminophenol by a novel bacterial strain, Pseudomonas sp. ST-4.

Aromatic compounds such as 4-aminophenol are toxic to the environment and thus should be eliminated effectively. Biodegradation of aromatic compounds is an efficient and environment friendly technique as addition of selected microbes does not add any kind of pollutants and actively remove even the most recalcitrant pollutants. We investigated the effectiveness of Pseudomonas sp. strain ST- 4 in the biodegradation of 4-aminophenol under variable pH, temperature and glucose regimes and sorted out optimum conditions for maximum biodegradation of 4-aminophenol. Maximum biodegradation of 4-aminophenol by Pseudomonas sp. strain ST- 4 was observed at pH 8, temperature 30°C and glucose concentration of 15 mM at 72 h, respectively.