Background/Objectives: Molybdenum, phenol and diesel are toxic to organism, and are part of global pollution. Their removal using microorganisms with multiple detoxification ability is being intensely sought as a cleaner and economic approach. Methods/Statistical analysis: A soil suspension was spread plated on a minimal salts media supplemented with molybdenum. Blue colonies, indicating molybdenum reduction was then screened for phenol and diesel degradation capabilities. Findings: A molybdenum-reducing bacterium locally isolated showed the ability to grow on phenol and diesel. The bacterium required pHs of between 5.8 and 6.3 and temperatures of between 30 and 40oC for optimal reduction. Among the carbon sources tested for supporting reduction, glucose was the best. A critical concentration of phosphate at just 5 mM was required, while molybdenum (sodium molybdate) was required between 15 and 25 mM. The absorption spectrum of the Mo-blue produced showed a characteristic maximum peak at 865 nm. The reduction of molybdenum was inhibited by the ions mercury, copper, chromium, lead and silver by 78.9, 78.4, 77.4, 53.5 and 36.8%, respectively. Analysis using phylogenetic analysis identifies the bacterium as Enterobacteriaceae bacterium strain DRY7. Growth on phenol and diesel as carbon sources showed that the optimal concentrations supporting growth was between 300 and 400 mg/L and between 300 and 500 mg/L, respectively. Application/Improvements: The capacity of this bacterium to detoxify a number of toxicants is an important property or bioremediation of soils contaminated with multiple toxicants.

Masdor N, Shukor MSA, Khan A, Halmi MIE, Abdullah SRS, Shamaan NA, Shukor MY. 2015. Taxonomy and distribution of species of the genus Acanthus (Acanthaceae) in mangroves of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. Biodiversitas 16: 238-246. Pollution as a result of anthropogenic activities is a severe global issue. These activities including inappropriate disposal, industrial and prospecting activities and unnecessary use of agricultural chemicals have triggered international initiatives to eliminate these contaminants. In this work we screen the ability of a molybdenum-reducing bacterium isolated from contaminated soil to grow and reduce molybdenum on various detergents. The bacterium was able to grow on SDS as a carbon source although the compound did not support molybdenum reduction. The bacterium reduces molybdate to Mo-blue optimally between pH 5.8 and 6.3 and between 25 and 34�C. Glucose was the best electron donor for supporting molybdate reduction followed by sucrose, d-mannitol, d-sorbitol, lactose, salicin, trehalose, maltose and myo-Inositol in descending order. Other requirements include a phosphate concentration between 5.0 and 7.5 mM and a molybdate concentration between 5 and 20 mM. The absorption spectrum of the Mo-blue produced was similar to previous Mo-reducing bacterium, and closely resembles a reduced phosphomolybdate. Molybdenum reduction was inhibited by mercury (ii), silver (i) and copper (ii) at 2 ppm by 62.1, 33.9 and 33.6%, respectively. Biochemical analysis resulted in a tentative identification of the bacterium as Klebsiella oxytoca strain Aft-7. The ability of this bacterium to detoxify molybdenum and degrade detergent makes this bacterium an important tool for bioremediation. � 2015, Society for Indonesian Biodiversity. All rights Reserved.