ABSTRACT
Fungi are ubiquitous in nature and they compete with other organisms for their survival. These produce carbon based compounds as mixtures in gaseous phase called the volatile organic compounds (VOC) which diffuses into the atmosphere from the substrate, they grow upon. These fungal VOC’s serve as infochemicals and play an important role of signaling for fungi. Apart from this, they are also indicators of bio-deterioration and serve as taxonomic markers. The fungal VOCs are increasingly finding their applications in biological control and mycofumigation. There is a possibility that they may used as next generation biofuels. Thus, bioprospecting of fungi for the study of these VOCs is a new paradigm for the discovery of new products for human use apart from providing a fundamental knowledge of their production.
