ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Terrestrial Microbiology
Isolation and Characterization of a Thermophilic Streptomyces albidoflavus KS5 strain Capable of Glyphosate Degradation
Hadjer Rebai 1
Cherifa Lefaida 1
Essam N. Sholkamy 2
Hadel Elagamawi 3
Mohamed A.A. Abdelhamid 4
Seung Pil Pack 5
Hazim Khalifa 3
Allaoueddine Boudemagh 1
1. Universite Freres Mentouri Constantine 1, Constantine, Algeria
2. King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
3. United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates
4. Sohar University, Sohar, Oman
5. Korea University, Seongbuk-gu, Republic of Korea
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Abstract
A thermophilic actinobacterium was isolated from thermal waters in Khenchela, Algeria, and identified as Streptomyces albidoflavus (accession number: OQ727247) based on biochemical characterization and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Designated as strain KS5, this bacterium demonstrated the capacity to degrade 50 mg L-1 of glyphosate within 15 days at both 30 °C and 50 °C. Remarkably, strain KS5 utilized glyphosate as its sole carbon source under these temperature conditions. Biodegradation efficiency was optimized through colorimetric assays evaluating key parameters such as pH, temperature, and inoculum size. The maximum degradation occurred at 50 °C, with optimal conditions determined at pH 7.2 and an inoculum size of 70 mg L-1. Total organic carbon reduction reached 53.68% at 50 °C compared to 47.27% at 30 °C. Attenuated Total Reflectance–Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy further confirmed structural modifications in glyphosate following incubation with strain KS5. Collectively, these results underscore the potential of this thermophilic Streptomyces strain for glyphosate biodegradation under both mesophilic and thermophilic conditions, highlighting its promise for bioremediation of environments contaminated by this herbicide.
Summary
Keywords
Actinobacteria, ATR-FTIR, bioremediation, herbicide biodegradation, hot spring
Received
22 October 2025
Accepted
20 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Rebai, Lefaida, Sholkamy, Elagamawi, Abdelhamid, Pack, Khalifa and Boudemagh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Hazim Khalifa
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