Volatiles of Stenotrophomonas, Serratia, and Bacillus species inhibited mycelial growth of many fungi and Arabidopsis thaliana (40 to 98%), and volatiles of Pseudomonas species and Burkholderia cepacia retarded the growth to lesser extents. Aspergillus niger and Fusarium species were resistant, and B. cepacia and Staphylococcus epidermidis promoted the growth of Rhizoctonia solani and A. thaliana. Bacterial volatiles provide a new source of compounds with antibiotic and growth-promoting features.

Dual culture systems, which only allowed volatiles to cross the boundary of a bipartite Petri dish, were used to investigate the effects of bacterial volatiles on the growth of 14 fungi and A. thaliana. The majority of tested combinations exhibited dramatic growth retardations of fungi and A. thaliana, indicating that volatiles can act as antibiotics. It therefore can be concluded that bacterial volatiles influence the growth conditions of organisms in a community and in a habitat.

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