The bacterium NFQ-1 capable of utilizing quinoline (2,3-benzopyridine) as the sole source of carbon, nitrogen and energy was enriched and isolated from soil samples of dead coal pit areas. Strain NFQ-1 was identified as Pseudomonas nitroreducens NFQ-1 by BIOLOG system, and assigned to Pseudomonas sp. NFO-1. Pseudomonas sp. NFQ-1 was used with the concentration range of 1 to 10 mM quinoline. Strain NFQ-1 could degrade 2.5 mM quinoline within 9 hours of incubation. Initial pH 8.0 in the culture was reduced to 6.8, and eventually 7.0 as the incubation was proceeding. 2-Hydroxyquinoline, the first intermediate of the degradative pathway, accumulated transiently in the growth medium. The highest concentration of quinoline (15 mM) in this work inhibited cell growth and quinoline degradation. Pseudomonas sp. NFQ-1 was able to utilize various quinoline derivatives and aromatic compounds including 2-hydroxyquinoline, p-comaric acid, benzoic acid, p-cresol, p-hydroxybenzoate, protocatechuic acid, and catechol. The specific activity of catechol oxygenases was determined to approximately 184.7 unit/㎎ for catechol 1.2-dioxygenase and 33.19 unit/㎎ for catechol 2,3-dioxygenase, respectively. As the result, it showed that strain NFQ-1 degraded quinoline via mainly orthp-cleavage pathway, and in partial meta-cleavage pathway.