Mortierella alpina lives in the soil and likes to keep cool. This fungus, which belongs to the 

zygomycetes, grows best at temperatures of 10 to 15 degrees C and occurs mainly in alpin

e or arctic habitats. In biotechnology, the fungus has been used for the large-scale production 

of polyunsaturated fatty acids such as arachidonic acids, mainly as a dietary supplement in 

baby foods.

But M. alpina can do much more: A research team from the Institute of Pharmacy at Friedrich 

Schiller University Jena has discovered that this fungus also produces other interesting 

compounds. In the specialist journal Organic Letters, the researchers, led by Dr. Markus Gre?

ler, present a group of surface-active peptides called malpinins, which are produced in large 

quantities by the fungus

Surfactants are substances that are used in laundry detergents and cleaning products. Florian 

Baldeweg, a Pharmacy Ph.D. student and member of Gre?ler's team, discovered the 

compounds produced by the fungus when he tried to purify peptides 

from Mortierella chromatographically. "Even very tiny amounts of malpinins form a head of 

foam on the top of the sample vial," says Baldeweg. Baldeweg and Gre?ler have elucidated 

the structure of these compounds. This previously unknown group of natural surfactants is 

called malpinins. Their surfactant effect is even stronger than that of SDS (sodium dodecyl 

sulphate), which is present in many common detergents.