Bacteria may hold fragrance secrets

Washington, Nov 1 (ANI): The day is not far when bacteria will yield perfume, says a new study, which has discovered bacteria in the root of Vetiver, a tropical grass, whose oil is used widely in the cosmetic and perfumery industries. The bacteria apparently boosts production of essential oils, and changes the molecular structure of the oil, giving it different flavours and termicidal, insecticidal, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties.
The researchers, led by Italian microbiologists Pietro Alifano, Luigi Del Giudice, and the plant biologist Massimo Maffei, focused their study on Vetiver grass through interdisciplinary research. They found that Vetiver root cells produce a few oil precursors, which are then metabolised by the root bacteria to build up the complexity of the Vetiver oil. The researchers found the bacteria in the oil-producing cells as well as in root locations closely associated with the essential oil.
Vetiver grass is the only grass cultivated specifically for its root essential oil, which is made up of chemicals called sesquiterpenes, which the plants use as pheromones and juvenile hormones.
Also present in the essential oils are alcohols and hydrocarbons, which are used primarily in perfumery and cosmetics. The perfumery and flavouring industry could benefit from the increased variety in fragrance and taste that these bacteria provide to these oils. The bacteria responsible for this transformation include alpha-, beta- and gamma-proteobacteria, high-G+C Gram-positive bacteria as well as microbes which belong to the Fibrobacteres / Acidobacteria group.
This research opens new frontiers in the biotech arena of natural bioactive compounds. Pharmaceutical, perfumery and flavouring industries may now exploit the selected microbial strains and widen their metabolic libraries, said Professor Alifano. The metabolic interplay between a plant, which offers a few simple molecules, and root bacteria, which biotransforms them into an array of bioactive compounds, increases fitness and reveals economical new survival strategies, said Professor Maffei.