Fig. 1. The phylogenetic tree analysis by Tree Dyn 193.3with the closest and related genera and species in the GenBank of NCBI of (a) E. coli moh1 Accession No. (KC013977) and (b) B. cereus moh2 Accession No. (KF021536) respectively.
Supplementary Table 1:Comparison of phenol degrading strains in liquid and solid phase methods for the 72 environmental strains
S. No. / Source of samples collected / Strain No. / Strains used / Phenol concentration in medium (200 mg l-1)
P-NB Agar plate method / 96-well plate liquid assay in P-NB medium
1 / Contaminated sludge nearManali petroleum oil company, Chennai, India / 1 / Bacillus sp.# / - / -
2 / S III-2● / - / +/-
3 / Bacillus subtilis moh3* / ++ / +++
4 / Bacillus thuringiensis * / ++ / ++
5 / Pseudomonas sp.# / + / +
6 / S III-6 ● / - / -
7 / Bacillus sp.# / - / -
8 / Staphylococcus sp.# / - / -
9 / S III-9● / - / -
10 / Bacillus sp.# / - / -
2 / Sludge from the Oil Industry (black), Chennai, India / 11 / Bacillus sp.# / - / -
12 / E. coli# / - / -
13 / Filamentous bacteria# / - / -
14 / Filamentous bacteria# / - / -
15 / S I-5● / - / -
16 / Serratia sp.# / - / -
17 / Streptococus sp.# / - / -
18 / Bacillus cereus# / - / -
19 / Bacillus sp.# / - / -
20 / Bacillus subtilis # / - / -
21 / Bacillus sp.# / - / -
22 / Serratia sp.# / - / -
23 / Pseudomonas sp.# / + / +
24 / S I-14● / - / +/-
25 / Staphylococcus aurous# / - / +
26 / S I-16 ● / - / -
27 / Staphylococcus sp. # / - / -
28 / Pseudomonas stutzeri * / ++ / ++
29 / Bacillus cereus moh2 * / +++ / +++
30 / E. coli# / - / -
31 / Shigella sp.# / - / -
S. No. / Source of samples collected / Strain No. / Strains used / Phenol concentration in medium
(200 mg l-1)
P-NB Agar plate method / 96-well plate liquid assay in P-NB medium
3 / Effluent from the Oil Industry (black colour), Chennai, India / 32 / Bacillus cereus moh2* / +++ / +++
33 / Staphyloccus sp.# / - / -
34 / Streptococcus sp. / - / -
35 / Serratia sp.# / - / -
36 / Enterobacter sp.# / - / -
37 / Enterobacter sp.# / - / -
38 / Shigellasp.# / - / -
39 / Bacillus tequilensis* / ++ / ++
40 / Shigella sp.# / - / -
41 / Bacillus sp.# / - / -
4 / Effluent from the Gold Oil Industry (yellow colour), Chennai, India / 42 / Bacillus sp. # / - / -
43 / Micrococcus sp. # / - / -
44 / EFF II-3● / - / +/-
45 / Staphylococcus sp. # / - / -
46 / Proteus sp. # / - / -
47 / E. coli * / +++ / +++
48 / E. colimoh1* / +++ / +++
49 / Citrobacter freundii * / +++ / +++
50 / E. coli * / +++ / +++
5 / Black Effluent From canal bank road Adyar, Chennai, India / 51 / Bacillus sp. # / - / -
52 / Bacillus sp. # / - / -
53 / Shigella sp. # / - / -
54 / EFF III- 4● / - / -
55 / E. coli # / - / -
56 / Pseudomonas sp. # / + / +/-
57 / Streptococcus sp. # / - / -
58 / Salmonella sp. # / - / -
59 / EFF III- 9● / - / -
60 / Staphylococcus sp.# / - / -
S. No. / Source of samples collected / Strain No. / Strains used / Phenol concentration in medium
(200 mg l-1)
P-NB Agar plate method / 96-well plate liquid assay in P-NB medium
6 / Effluent from Taramani, Chennai, India / 61 / EFF. I-1● / - / +/-
62 / Bacillus subtilis* / ++ / ++
63 / E. coli # / - / -
64 / Enterobacter sp. # / - / -
7 / Contaminated Soil/near canal bank road/Adyar –Chennai, India / 65 / Bacillus sp. # / + / +
66 / Bacillus sp. # / - / -
67 / Bacillus sp. # / - / -
68 / Streptococcus sp. # / - / -
69 / Streptococcus sp. # / - / -
70 / Klebsiella sp. # / - / -
71 / Shigella .sp.# / - / -
72 / E. coli # / + / +
*Strains identified using 16S rRNA (11strains)
#Environmental strains identified using biochemical and microbiological tests (51 strains).
- Environmental bacterial strains not identified (10 strains).
+Degradation of phenol indicated by colour changing after 12 h from pink to pale pink.
++Degradation of phenol indicated by colour changing after 10 h from pink to yellow.
+++Degradation of phenol indicated by colour changing after 8 h. from pink to yellow.
-Phenol susceptible strains (no colour change).
The strains highlighted in grey show little degradation in the liquid assay, which is susceptible in the agar plate assay; the strains in bold moh1,moh2 and moh3 were identified as a unique 16S rRNA sequence at GenBank of NCBI.
Data represented in mean SD taken from triplicates.