Screening for and isolation and identification of malathion-degrading bacteria: cloning and sequencing a gene that potentially encodes the malathion-degrading enzyme, carboxylestrase in soil bacteria.

Five malathion-degrading bacterial strains were enriched and isolated from soil samples collected from different agricultural sites in Cairo, Egypt. Malathion was used as a sole source of carbon (50 mg/l) to enumerate malathion degraders, which were designated as IS1, IS2, IS3, IS4, and IS5. They were identified, based on their morphological and biochemical characteristics, as Pseudomonas sp.