Enhanced production of verbenol, a highly valued food flavourant, by an intergeneric fusant strain of Aspergillus niger and Penicillium digitatum.

An intergeneric hybrid, obtained from Aspergillus niger and Penicillium digitatum, biotransformed (-)-cis-alpha-pinene (5 mg/25 ml) into (-)-cis-verbenol (60%; 1.08 mg/g of biomass) in 6 h compared with 0.18 mg/g of biomass for verbenol (10-15%; 0.18-0.27 mg/g of biomass) in the initial parent cultures.