489: Soil Smell Synthesis Significance
This episode: Many organisms produce the smell of earth, geosmin, and many others can sense it–but why?
Download Episode (6.0 MB, 8.7 minutes)
Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Acidianus spindle-shaped virus 1
In this study, different geosmin-producing bacteria were paired with tiny bacteria-eating roundworms, nematodes, to see how the chemical affected their interactions. Production of geosmin affected the worms' movement, apparently inducing them to avoid colonies of the producing microbes in some cases, though the worms still sometimes fed on the bacteria. Adding geosmin to colonies of different bacteria did not affect the worms' behavior though, so other factors seem to be involved.
Journal Paper:
Zaroubi L, Ozugergin I, Mastronardi K, Imfeld A, Law C, Gélinas Y, Piekny A, Findlay BL. 2022. The Ubiquitous Soil Terpene Geosmin Acts as a Warning Chemical. Appl Environ Microbiol 88:e00093-22.
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