Abstract
The present study explores the potential of Streptococcus epidermis, an indigenous isolate for biotransformation of phenol and
phenol derivatives. Different phenolic derivatives such as 4-methylphenol, methylbenzene, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,6-
dichlorophenol and 4-nitrophenol were attempted for biotransformation study. The results have shown that 4-nitrophenol was
best transformed. The effect of degradation parameters like pH and temperature was studied, showing the value of 7.0 as
optimum pH, while the optimal temperature for phenol transformation was 32°C. The metabolic pathway for phenol and phenol
derivatives degradation was assigned to meta- cleavage activity based on 2-hydroxy muconic semialdehyde (2-HMSA)
determination and catechol 2,3-dioxygenase enzyme assay. Consequently, the isolate Streptococcus epidermis was well
documented for phenol and phenolic derivative biotransformation.