Atrazine has been a pollutant of great environmental concern due to its high potential to contaminate
soil and waters. In north China, atrazine has widely applied in corn fields and is still in use. Isolation of
a high-efficiency atrazine degrader whose degradation ability is not inhibited by organic matters and
fertilziers in the soils is of practical importance for bioremediation of contaminated soils. A bacterial
strain (DAT1) capable of utilizing atrazine as a sole nitrogen source for growth was isolated from an
agricultural soil in Hebei Province, China. The strain DAT1 was identified as an Arthrobacter species and
harbored degradation genes trzN, atzB and atzC on plasmid DNA. The strain demonstrated a very high
efficiency of atrazine biodegradation with a broad optimum pH and temperature ranges and could be
enhanced by addition of both carbon and nitrogen sources, suggesting its huge potential for remediation
of atrazine-contaminated sites. This work might provide some new insights on atrazine remediation and
contributes to the limited pool of knowledge on the function of Arthrobacter species.