Big Effects from Small Changes: Possible Ways to Explore Nature's Chemical Diversity

Fungi or bacteria that produce secondary metabolites often have the potential to bring up various compounds from a single strain. The molecular basis for this well-known observation was confirmed in the last few years by several sequencing projects of different microorganisms. Besides well-known examples about induction of a selected biosynthesis (for example, by high- or low-phosphate cultivation media), no overview about the potential in this field for finding natural products was given. We have investigated the systematic alteration of easily accessible cultivation parameters (for example, media composition, aeration, culture vessel, addition of enzyme inhibitors) in order to increase the number of…