The aim of this work was to investigate the decolorization and degradation of azo dyes by growing cells of
a new yeast strain TL-F1 which was isolated from the sea mud. Strain TL-F1 was identified as Candida
tropicalis on the basis of 28S rDNA analysis. Various azo dyes (20 mg/L) were efficiently decolorized
through aerobic degradation. Meantime, the effects of different parameters on both decolorization of Acid
Brilliant Scarlet GR and growth of strain TL-F1 were investigated. Furthermore, possible degradation
pathway of the dye GR was proposed through analysis of metabolic products using UV–Vis spectroscopy
and HPLC–MS methods. As far as it is known, it is the first systematic research on a C. tropicalis strain
which is capable of efficiently decolorizing various azo dyes under aerobic condition. This work provides
a potentially useful microbial strain TL-F1 for treatment of azo dye contaminated wastewater.