Bioremediation has proven to be the most desirable and cost effective method to counter textile dye pollution. Hairy roots (HRs) of Ipomoea carnea J. were tested for decolourization of 25 textile azo dyes, out of which >90% decolourization was observed in 15 dyes. A diazo dye, Acid Red 114 was decolourized to >98% and hence, was chosen as the model dye. A significant increase in the activities of oxidoreductive enzymes was observed during decolourization of AR114. The phytodegradation of AR114 was confirmed by HPLC, UV-vis and FTIR spectroscopy. The possible metabolites were identified by GCMS as 4-aminobenzene sulfonic acid 2-methylaniline and 4-aminophenyl 4-ethyl benzene sulfonate and a probable pathway for the biodegradation of AR114 has been proposed. The nontoxic nature of the metabolites and toxicity of AR114 was confirmed by cytotoxicity tests on human keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT). When HaCaT cells were treated separately with 150 mu g mL(-1) of AR114 and metabolites, MTT assay showed 50% and approximate to 100% viability respectively. Furthermore, flow cytometry data showed that, as compared to control, the cells in G2-M and death phase increased by 2.4 and 3.6 folds respectively on treatment with AR114 but remained unaltered in cells treated with metabolites. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.