The characteristics of bitumen soil are given in Table 1.The actinobacterium PAH-13 was identified as Streptomyces sp on the basis of various physiological and biochemical tests as described in Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology. The isolate was found to be gram positive rods. The culture was catalase positive,exhibited the ability to reduce nitrate to nitrite and exhibited the ability to degrade esculine, casein, gelatin, starch and L-tyrosine. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA showed greatest homology (99%) with the members of Streptomyces rochei. The sequence has been submitted to NCBI with
accession number GQ904711.