Indole and its derivatives form a class of toxic recalcitrant environmental pollutants, Abacte-rium, strain KL-9 was isolated from soil with indole as a sole source of carbon and nitrogen. KL-9 was identified as Acinetobacter sp. on the basis of 16 S rRNA gene sequence, fatty acid and quinone compositions. This identification was also confirmed by the ability of carbon source utilization and other biochemical tests. The growth of Acinetobacter sp. KL-9 was fastest with 0.3mg/ml of indole as was inhibited by higher than 0.5mg/ml of indole in the medium, KL-9 with indole also produced indigo. The formation of indigo was stimulated inthe presence of glucose, which is not a growth-suppoting carbon source for KL-9. Additional biotransformation evidence showed that anthranilate is an intermediate for the degradation of indole KL-9.