A biphenyl-utilizing bacterium isolated from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)-contaminated soils grew on tryptic soy at temperatures between 4 and 40 degrees C. The Gram-negative rod bacterium formed yellow colonies on nutrient agar and it denitrified nitrate to nitrogen. Analysis of cellular fatty acids showed that it was most closely related to Hydrogenophaga taeniospiralis. At 5 degrees C, biphenyl-grown cells cometabolically degraded di- and trichlorinated isomers of PCBs in 10 ppm of Aroclor 1248. At 30 degrees C, PCBs that were removed included a congener with four chlorine substituents. At 5 degrees C, cells transformed 2,4'-dichlorobiphenyl (2,4'-DCB) and accumulated ortho-chlorinated meta-cleavage product as a stable metabolite. Analysis of extracts of culture supernatant by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry indicated that products of transformation of 2,4'-DCB included 2- and 4-chlorobenzoic acid (2- and 4-CBA), suggesting that (chloro)biphenyl-degrading upper-pathway enzymes of the bacterium are active at low temperature. The bacterium Hydrogenophaga sp. IA3-A is a PCB-degrading psychrotolerant strain.