The degradation of the phosphonate herbicide glyphosate (N-phosphonomethylglycine) by four taxonomically distinct microorganisms was studied in vivo in whole cell system using phosphorus nuclear magnetic spectroscopy (P-31 NMR). The time-course of glyphosate metabolization in dense cell cultures was followed by means of P-31 NMR up to 21 days after the addition. The results obtained by this non-invasive way confirmed that the cells of Spirulina platensis and Streptomyces lusitanus biodegrade herbicide. Moreover, phosphorus starvation influenced the rate of glyphosate degradation by S. platensis. On the other hand, the results of similar measurements in the cultures of green algae Chlorella vulgaris showed that this aquatic plant, however growing in the medium containing 1 mM of N-phosphonomethylglycine, did not seem to posses the ability of its biodegradation. Additionally, the use of this method allowed us to find the new fungal strain Fusarium dimerum, which is able to biodegrade and utilize the glyphosate as the sole source of phosphorus. The results of our studies on usefulness of in Vivo P-31 NMR for tracing glyphosate degradation in whole cell systems revealed that this non-invasive, one-step method, might be considered as a valuable tool in environmental biotechnology of organophosphonate xenobiotics. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.