IDENTIFICATION OF ODOROUS COMPOUNDS FROM STREPTOMYCES-AVERMITILIS

The production of avermectin-type antibiotics and the odours of a stra in of Streptomyces avermitilis was investigated. With the increasing p roduction of the total of avermectins (0-600 mu g/ml), the synthesis o f geosmin is also enhanced by more than one order of magnitude and, in contrast, the production of homologues of oxolone (dihydrofuranone) d ecreases in a similar range. In addition to these compounds, more than twenty other volatile chemical products have been identified by means GC-MS, i.e. pyrazine derivatives, acetoin and its homologues, aromati c esters, furan derivatives, etc.).