title: Isolation and molecular identification of biodegrading Mycobacteria from water supplies of Iranian hospitals.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Some microorganisms, mainly members of two genera including Pseudomonas and Mycobacterium, were found to be capable of transforming and degrading of polluting agents. We herein report the isolation of a few mycobacteria with the ability to biodegrade organic and inorganic compounds from water supplies of Iranian hospitals.
  
  
  METHODS
  The water samples were collected from hospital water supplies. Isolation processes were done according to standard methods. The colonies were subcultured on Löwenstein-Jensen medium to obtain a pure culture. The identification and characterization of the isolates were based on conventional and molecular methods including direct sequence analysis of almost full length of 16S rRNA gene.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The almost complete 16S rRNA gene sequences of the studied strains revealed that the isolates WP16, AW18-1 and AW18-3 were identified as M. fredriksbergense, AW18-2 as M. austroafricanum, AW27-2 as M. obuenseand AW27-6 as M. phocaicum.The relationship between our isolates and standard strains of Mycobacterium was supported by a phylogenetic tree of 16S rRNA gene.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the current study we were able to isolate and characterize six mycobacteria with capability of transforming and degrading polluting agents from Iranian hospital environments. This is indeed the first report on isolation and characterization of mycobacteria with degrading capability of polluting agents from Iranian hospitals. It can be considered as a pioneer study to open up a new horizon in the study of microbial diversity in Iran with an objective-based and applied approach to tackle environmental challenges.
authors: Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors: Davood
authors: D
authors: Azadi
authors: Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors: Ramin
authors: R
authors: Dibaj
authors: Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors: Mahnaz
authors: M
authors: Pourchangiz
authors: Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors: AbassDaei
authors: A
authors: Naser
authors: Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors: Hasan
authors: H
authors: Shojaei
keywords: 16SrRNA gene; Biodegradation; Mycobacterium; water supply