Isolation and identification of oxamyl-degrading bacteria from UK agricultural soils

Bacteria capable of utilising oxamyl as the sole carbon source were isolated from seven different agricultural soils that had previously demonstrated enhanced oxamyl degradation in a soil incubation study. Partial sequencing and alignment of the 16S rRNA gene showed little diversity amongst isolates, with 26 of the 27 isolates demonstrating similarity to the genus Aminobacter. The most common species isolated was Aminobacter aminovorans, while a number of the isolates demonstrated an equal degree of similarity to the species Aminobacter niigataensis and Chelatobacter heintzii. One isolate was identified as Mesorhizobium sp. This is the first time that organisms involved in the degradation of oxamyl have been isolated and identified.