Streptomyces chartreusis is an antibiotic-producing bacterium that releases more metabolites into the surrounding medium than scientists previously assumed based on genomic analysis. Many of the substances are likely released to mediate interactions with its environment. They might also include molecules that are of interest as potential pharmaceutical agents. A team headed by Prof Dr. Julia Bandow and Christoph Senges from the research group Applied Microbiology at Ruhr-Universität Bochum analysed a broad spectrum of the bacterium’s metabolic products under various culture conditions.