Microorganisms such as fungi or bacteria produce volatile organic compounds (so-called MVOCs: Microbial Volatile Organic Compounds) as metabolites. Some MVOCs have been found to be biologically active, for example inhibition of spore germination, and when fungi of different species encounter each other, the MVOCs pattern change, suggesting that MVOCs play a role as a mediator for biological interactions through their specific biological activities. Wood rotting fungi also produce MVOCs. We noted that wood rotting fungi grow on the same substrate (for example tree) in nature, and hypothesized that MVOCs-mediate interactions between wood rotting fungi could also exist. In the present study, we aimed to obtain the knowledge of the biological activity of MVOCs to wood rotting fungi as the first step to prove our hypothesis. Specifically, fourteen MVOCs previously detected from wood rotting fungi were exposed to five species of wood rotting fungi, and changes in mycelial growth were examined. As a result, some MVOCs inhibited mycelial growth, while some MVOCs promoted, and their effects were species-specific. Furthermore, among the fourteen MVOCs, we focused on six MVOCs with a liner 8-carbon, which are known to be abundantly produced by fungi, and investigated the concentration dependency on mycelial growth. As a result, the effects of these MVOCs varied with concentration. These results suggested that wood rotting fungi could discriminate not only the chemical structure but also the concentrations of MVOCs, and the response to MVOCs are species-specific. It is suggested that MVOCs produced by wood rotting fungi have biological activity against wood rotting fungi and mediate biological interactions between them through their activity.

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