A moniliformin(MON)-degrading bacterium strain, named as Y21-2, was isolated from the mycotoxin-contaminated soil from Heilongjiang Province by the enrichment microculture technique. This strain can grow with MON as its sole carbon and energy source. In the minimal medium with 500 micrograms/mL MON, the number of cells increased from 10(7) to 10(10). Traditional taxonomy, assays of its G + C content and 16S rDNA sequence homology identified Y21-2 as Rhizobiaceae, Ochrobactrum sp. Resting cell suspensions prepared from induced Y21-2 can degrade MON with great speed, which also suggested the existence of enzymes committed to MON degradation in the cell.