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Abstract

Adverse impacts of paints effluents from industries improperly disposed into the environment, paint washings from buildings and other infrastructure caused a lot of carcinogenic, mutagenic, physiological alterations resulting in debilitating health effects on humans. The study was aimed at isolating and identifying some dominant bacteria involves in the biodegradation of acrylic paint-impacted sites. A total of hundred (100) soil samples each were collected from two paint companies and analyses using standard microbiological methods. The bacteria species were identified phenotypically and genotypically by sequencing specific sections of ribosomal DNA– the 16s rRNA gene, after amplification by PCR, and then comparing the results to sequences stored on a related database. A total of ten bacterial genera were identified. They include Bacillus spp., Pseudomonas spp., Staphylococcus spp., Arthrobacter spp., Aeromonas spp., Cirobacter spp., Alcaligenes spp., Flavobacterium spp., Enterobacter spp. Micrococcus spp. The most predominant bacteria were Bacillus (24.1%) and Pseudomonas (17.2%) species. This study has confirmed the presence of different bacterial species associated with acrylic paint-impacted sites.