Aflatoxin B-1 (AFB(1)), is a type I carcinogen that is one of the strongest naturally occurring aflatoxins and can be injurious to humans and livestock upon ingestion, inhalation, or skin contact, with carcinogenic and mutagenic effects. It causes significant hazardous effects to the food- and animal-production industries. We found a bacterial strain, 3J2MO, that degraded AFB(1) well, and here we tested and characterized its AFB(1)-degradation ability. The strain degraded about 93.82% of the AFB(1) after incubation for 48 h in Luria-Bertani (LB) medium at 37 degrees C with a final concentration of 100 ppb and an inoculation quantity of 1 x 10(7) cfu/mL. High-performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD) was used to determine AFB(1) amounts. The maximum degradation rates were 89.23% at pH 8.5; 55.78% at an inoculation quantity of 1 x 10(8) cfu/mL; and 71.50 and 71.21% at 34 and 37 degrees C, respectively. Treatment with sucrose and soluble starch as carbon sources and beef extract and ammonium acetate as nitrogen sources stimulated the degradation rate. Mg2+ and Ca2+ ions were activators for AFB(1) degradation; however, Mn2+, Fe3+, Zn2+, and Cu2+ were strong inhibitors. This bacterial strain has potential in bioremediation and the detoxification of aflatoxin contamination for biocontrol strategies in both agricultural products and food-industry matrices.