Bacteria "earthy" attract animals

a spring rain, the air filled with the smell of dirt. But how can dirt "run" into the air? Recently, Swedish researchers found that soil bacteria may release unique odors to attract animals to help them spread in their surroundings. The paper was published April 6 in Nature-Microbiology.
volatile compounds produced by bacteria can be perceived by larger animals, including humans. Streptomycin is a group of bacteria commonly found in soil that produce soil odors , an organic compound that has a unique "earthy" taste and produces a typical earthy smell after rain. However, the cause of streptomycin has been unknown.
Klas Fl?rdh team at Lund University and researchers from institutions such as the University of Agricultural Sciences used a combination of field experiments and laboratory studies to explore whether the smell of skunk could attract animals living in the soil, especially arthropods. The researchers set up a net of traps in the wild using streptomycin as bait and found that the enchomia, a small wingless arthropod closely related to insects, was attracted.
in the lab, the researchers observed that the enchovies could sense soil odor directly through the tentacles. They also say that because the enchomia feeds on streptomycedis, bacterial spores adhere to the body of the enchovation. The ejaculation then spreads bacterial spores to its surroundings by dropping and excretion of the ingested spores on the surface of the body.
experts say the observations suggest that bacterial source odors play an ecological role in attracting animals, which can then spread the bacteria to a wider environment.
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