Preserving US microbe collections sparks future discoveries

K Boundy-Mills; K McCluskey; P Elia; J A Glaeser; D L Lindner; D R Nobles Jr; J Normanly; F M Ochoa-Corona; J A Scott; T J Ward; K M Webb; K Webster; J E Wertz

doi:10.1111/jam.14525

Preserving US microbe collections sparks future discoveries

J Appl Microbiol. 2020 Aug;129(2):162-174. doi: 10.1111/jam.14525. Epub 2019 Dec 12.

Authors

K Boundy-Mills¹, K McCluskey², P Elia³, J A Glaeser⁴, D L Lindner⁴, D R Nobles Jr⁵, J Normanly⁶, F M Ochoa-Corona⁷, J A Scott⁸, T J Ward⁹, K M Webb¹⁰, K Webster^{6

11}, J E Wertz¹²

Affiliations

¹ Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Food Science and Technology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
² Department of Plant Pathology, Fungal Genetics Stock Center, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA.
³ Soybean Genomics and Improvement Laboratory, USDA-ARS Rhizobium Germplasm Resource Collection, Beltsville, MD, USA.
⁴ Center for Forest Mycology Research, USDA-Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Madison, WI, USA.
⁵ UTEX Culture Collection of Algae, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
⁶ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA.
⁷ National Institute for Microbial Forensics & Food and Agricultural Biosecurity, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA.
⁸ Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁹ USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Peoria, IL, USA.
¹⁰ Soil Management and Sugar Beet Research Unit, USDA-ARS, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
¹¹ Institute of Applied Life Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA.
¹² E. coli Genetic Stock Center, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.

Abstract

Collections of micro-organisms are a crucial element of life science research infrastructure but are vulnerable to loss and damage caused by natural or man-made disasters, the untimely death or retirement of personnel, or the loss of research funding. Preservation of biological collections has risen in priority due to a new appreciation for discoveries linked to preserved specimens, emerging hurdles to international collecting and decreased funding for new collecting. While many historic collections have been lost, several have been preserved, some with dramatic rescue stories. Rescued microbes have been used for discoveries in areas of health, biotechnology and basic life science. Suggestions for long-term planning for microbial stocks are listed, as well as inducements for long-term preservation.

Keywords: algae; biotechnology; diversity; environmental mycology; fungi.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Biomedical Research
Biotechnology
Environmental Microbiology
Humans
Preservation, Biological* / methods
Preservation, Biological* / trends
United States

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding