IUBio

odor as a microbial biosignatures

DKafkewitz dkafkewitz at aol.com
Wed May 7 10:22:44 EST 2003


There are a variety of bacteria that can reduce dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) to
dimethyl sulfide which has a very characteristic odor. I do not know if you
consider DMSO an organic compound or not. 

There are also bacteria that can produce volatile smelly compounds from
selenium salts.  But there may be a toxicity issue with these. Similarly for
the release of cyanide from amygdalin by a variety of fairly common bacteria.  




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