By-products inhibit yeast and fungi: Pseudomonas aeruginosa
 

The metabolism of Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces products that inhibit yeast and fungal growth via the conversion of unsaturated fatty acids.

     
  "Bioconversion is a “green” technology that converts fatty acids into entirely new chemical compounds with antimicrobial, industrial or biomedical properties. The bioconversion reactions by Pseudomonas aeruginosa PR3 have been cited extensively among microbial systems that produce mono-, di- and tri-hydroxy fatty acid derivatives from unsaturated fatty acids (Kuo et al., 1998). Strain PR3, isolated from a waste water stream on a pig farm in Morton, IL, USA was found to convert oleic acid to a novel compound, 7,10-dihydroxy-8(E)-octadecenoic acid (DOD), which inhibits the laboratory growth of Candida albicans, a yeast that sometimes causes thrush and other infections in humans (Hou and Bagby, 1991). This strain was also found to convert ricinoleic acid to another novel compound 7,10,12-trihydroxy-8(E)-octadecenoic acid (TOD), which inhibits the rice blast fungus, raising the prospect for a biological fungicide against this pathogen (Kuo et al., 2001). These recently described compounds, from the microbial conversion of unsaturated fatty acids, are potential value-added products that will inhibit such pathogens." (Bajpai et al. 2008:136)
  Learn more about this functional adaptation.