Twenty bacterial strains were isolated from soil, when aniline was provided as a sole source of carbon and nitrogen. Rhodococcus erythropolis AN-13, one of the isolates, grew on aniline at concentrations from 0.65 to 2.6 mg/ml and completely degraded it. Ammonia was released from aniline with cell growth and accumulated in the cultural broth. Aniline-grown cells of this bacterium oxidized aniline and catechol, but did not take up a significant amount of oxygen in the presence of o- or p-aminophenol. These facts suggest that R. erythropolis AN-13 metabolized aniline through catechol. Additional carbon and nitrogen sources did not cause any repression of aniline biodegradation in this strain, but promoted its breakdown with an increase of cell growth. The bacterium used aniline in preference to glucose in a medium containing these two substrates.

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