A Phenanthrene-degrading bacterium, Strain 1-21 was isolated from oil-contaminated soil. This strain was a Gram-negative, aerobic, and rod-shaped bacterium, and exhibited a 99% sequence similarity of 16S rDNA to that of Sphingomonas subarctica. The major cellular fatty acid was a summed feature 7(18:1 w7c, 18:1 w9t, 18:1 s12t), which is a characteristic of the Sphingomonas species. When 200 and 1,000 ppm of phenanthrene was added as the sole carbon source, Strain 1-21 degraded 98% and 67% after 10 days of incubation, respectively. Futhermore, this strain was also able to utilized naphthalene and fluorene as sole carbon and energy sources.