stimulation of Central Nervous System as the major characteristic
and is indistinguishable from symptoms of other
cyclodienes (USDHHS 1990). Endosulfan has been
reported to be highly toxic to aquatic fauna like fish and
invertebrates (Sunderam et al. 1992). In addition, there are
reported implications in mammalian gonadal toxicity
(Sinha et al. 1997), genotoxicity (Chaudhari et al. 1999),
teratogenic effects (Yadav 2003) and mutagenic effects
(USDHHS 1990). These acute and chronic toxicity and
environmental concerns have attracted scientists for an
effective and economically viable option search for endosulfan
degradation.
Bioremediation has evolved as a very economical and
viable process for detoxification of xenobiotics in general
and pesticides in particular, as an alternative to existing
methods such as incineration and landfill (Gavrilescu and
Chisti 2005). Therefore, present investigations were carried
out in our laboratory to enrich and isolate endosulfan
degrading microorganism from the natural resource (soil),
having the past history of endosulfan usage. The isolated
strains were studied for their comparative pesticide degradation
ability to select the best biodegrader. The best
degrading isolate N2 was found to degrade both the isomers
of endosulfan (a- and b-isomers) along with the
equally toxic metabolite endosulfan sulfate up to 94 %
within 7 days (Kumar et al. 2012).
The present report describes the biochemical and
molecular characterization and identification of the best
endosulfan degrading isolate N2 and comparative analysis
of its degradation profile with the standard microorganisms
(MOs) reported earlier for endosulfan degradation, Phan