Studies were carried out on the decolorization of textile azo dyes by newly isolated halophilic and halotolerant bacteria. Among the 27
strains of halophilic and halotolerant bacteria isolated from effluents of textile industries, three showed remarkable ability in decolorizing
the widely utilized azo dyes. Phenotypic characterization and phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rDNA sequence comparisons indicate
that these strains belonged to the genus Halomonas. The three strains were able to decolorize azo dyes in a wide range of NaCl concentration
(up to 20% w/v), temperature (25–40 C), and pH (5–11) after 4 days of incubation in static culture. They could decolorize the
mixture of dyes as well as pure dyes.