Glyphosate is an important organophosphonate herbicide used to eliminate grasses and herbaceous plants in many vegetation management situations.Its extensive use is causing environmental pollution,and consequently,there is a need to remove it from the environment using an eco-friendly and cost-effective method.As a step to address this problem,a novel bacterial strain Comamonas odontotermitis P2,capable to utilize glyphosate as a carbon (C) and/or phosphorus (P) source,was isolated from a glyphostate-contaminated field soil in Australia and characterized.Response surface methodology (RSM) employing a 23 full factorial central composite design was used to optimize glyphosate degradation by C.odontotermitis P2 under various culture conditions.The strain C.odontotermitis P2 was proficient in degrading 1.5 g L-1 glyphosate completely within 104 h.The optimal conditions for the degradation of glyphosate were found to be pH 7.4,29.9 o C,and an inoculum density of 0.54 g L-1,resulting in a maximum degradation of 90%.Sequencing of glyphosate oxidoreductase (GOX) and C-P lyase (phnJ) genes from C.odontotermitis P2 revealed 99% and 93% identities to already reported bacterial GOX and phnJ genes,respectively.The presence of these two genes in C.odontotermitis indicates its potential to degrade glyphosate through GOX and C-P lyase metabolic pathways.This study demonstrates the potential of C.odontotermitis P2 for efficient degradation of glyphosate,which can be exploited for remediation of glyphosate.