Phosphorus (P) in wastewater is a main factor causing eutrophication, and removal of low concentrations of P (<= 1.0 mg L-1) is an important, but not fully studied topic. The removal of low content of P is rather difficult or expensive. To develop alternative biological methods for the removal of low concentration P. polyphosphate-accumulating bacteria in surface sediment of Taihu Lake in China were isolated and characterized. Among these bacteria, a Pseudomonas stutzeri strain YG-24 was found to be able to remove 97% to 100% of P in a synthetic wastewater with total P less than 1.0 mg L-1. After immobilization by polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-sodium alginate, this strain still showed high percentage of P removal, and maintained high efficiency in five sample loading cycles. In addition, the immobilized cells displayed better pH-resistance than free cells. The removal of P in overlying water sample collected from Taihu Lake was also satisfactory. These results demonstrated the potential of using immobilized cells of YG-24 to remove low concentrations of P in wastewater treatment. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.