_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: E-mail: hmyakasai.bch@buk.edu.ng; Journal of Advances in Biology & Biotechnology 24(10): 46-53, 2021; Article no.JABB.78186 ISSN: 2394-1081 Isolation and Identification of Anthracene Utilizing Proteus vulgaris from Oil Spill Contaminated Soil at NNPC Depot Kano State Nigeria U. Shehu a , F. A. Ahmad a , F. Yusuf a , F. Muhammad a and H. M. Yakasai a* a Department of Biochemistry, College of Health Science, Bayero University, Kano, P.M.B. 3011, Kano, Nigeria. Authors’ contributions This work was carried out in collaboration among all authors. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Article Information DOI: 10.9734/JABB/2021/v24i1030246 Editor(s): (1) Dr. Maria Serrano, University Miguel Hernández, Spain. Reviewers: (1) Leela Kaur, Maharaja ganga Singh University, India. (2) Roger Saint-fort, Mount Royal University, Canada. Complete Peer review History, details of the editor(s), Reviewers and additional Reviewers are available here: https://www.sdiarticle5.com/review-history/78186 Received 03 October 2021 Accepted 07 December 2021 Published 14 December 2021 ABSTRACT Microbial biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) like Anthracene, represent an efficient, time, and cost-effective way for bioremediation of the polluted environment. This study was aimed at isolating, identifying and characterizing bacteria with potential to degrade and utilize anthracene as a sole carbon source. A bacteria was isolated from oil spilled contaminated site located in Kano, using an enrichment method on mineral salt media (MSM) following serial dilution (10 -1 -10 -6 ). Characterization was done by studying the effects of temperature and pH on mineral salt media (MSM) containing anthracene. The isolate was then identified morphologically, biochemically and molecularly based on 16S rRNA partial gene sequence analysis. The morphological and microscopic examination of the isolate from this research shows that the isolate was creamy in color, motile, gram negative, short rod and non-spore forming respectively. The biochemical test of the isolate was found to be positive for these parameters (methyl red, catalase, motility, indole and urease) and negative for (citrate and oxidase). The 16S rRNA sequence and Phylogenetic analysis using neighbor joining tree and 1000 boos trap revealed that, the isolate was closely related (on the same clade) to Proteus vulgaris with accession number MW766369. Characterization was done by Original Research Article