VERIFIEDPRIMARY
Geosmin, an Earthy-Smelling Substance Isolated from Actinomycetes
N. N. Gerber & H. A. Lechevalier
DOI 10.1128/am.13.6.935-938.1965CLM-GEOSMIN-001 · VERIFIED
Geosmin and the odour of moist soil
The earthy-smelling substance geosmin, isolated from several actinomycetes, is described by biochemical research on the soil organism Streptomyces coelicolor as responsible for the characteristic odour of moist soil.
Laboratory cultures and a study of the enzyme that makes geosmin; the 2007 study states the link to soil odour as background and did not test it, and neither source measured the air above soil or which other compounds contribute to its smell.
The statement the claim rests on was found word for word in the abstract fetched from the named service, and an editor read the full abstract against every part of the claim. Abstract from Europe PMC (ebi.ac.uk/europepmc).
active · reviewed 2026-10-02 · corrections 0
CANONICAL PROFILES1
MOLECULES THIS CLAIM NAMES1
- geosmin · Key odorant · the claim says “responsible for the characteristic odour of moist soil”
Each molecule page shows the other entries whose evidence names it. A molecule named here is not the whole smell.
SUPPORTING SOURCES2
VERIFIEDPRIMARY
Biosynthesis of the earthy odorant geosmin by a bifunctional Streptomyces coelicolor enzyme
Jiaoyang Jiang, Xiaofei He & David E. Cane
DOI 10.1038/nchembio.2007.29Permanent identifier smellbook:claim:geosmin-and-the-odour-of-moist-soil · Graph record (JSON)
Dataset history In the SmellBook dataset since the dataset release of 2026-10-06 · sha256 5c7fe650477f.