hanusj@bionette.cgrb.orst.edu (Joe Hanus - Botany) (05/24/90)
SUMMARY: The forth in a series of newsletters in now available to interested scientists who reply to this posting. Collections of living microorganisms and subcellular entities maintained and used by scientists within State Agricultural Experiment Stations, USDA/ARS Research Labs and private industry represent and enormous national resource. In contrast to the larger reference collections such as ATCC these "working" collections typically contain a small number of taxons but a large number of strains. Working collections also are unique because they are maintained by individual scientists who have an intimate knowledge and "feel" for the germplasm group within her/his collection. Many of these smaller specialized collections are endangered (and have been so recognized by the World Federation of Culture Collections) because of lack of funds for maintenance, retirement of the investigator or lack of institutional support. Further, the full scientific utilization of these collections has been limited because of their relative isolation and the lack of easily accessible knowledge of their contents and the expertise of the investigator. Until the last few years there has been little progress in organization and evaluation this reservoir of knowledge. Hence, the Microbial Germplasm Database and Network is being implemented with funding from USDA/CSRS to facilitate communication between scientists who are involved in plant- related studies and who maintain research-oriented "working collections" of microorganisms, nematodes and/or subcellular entities. The database and network will provide on-line information regarding collections and accessions and will serve to apprise the scientific community of the importance of the germplasm in these many collections as a valuable and endangered national resource. The Microbial Germplasm Database is being developed with the capability of ultimately interfacing with existing international databases and networks. The second newsletter for the Microbial Germplasm Network and Database is now available. If interested, you can request either an e-mail copy or surface mail hardcopy by replying to this posting. If you or your laboratory maintains a collection of germplasm (bacteria, nematodes, viruses, endo-ecto mycorrhizae, fungi, protozoa, plasmids, genes, or phage) that are used in plant-related research your input to this endeavor would be encouraged. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Joe Hanus | E-MAIL hanusj@bionette.cgrb.orst.edu Dept. of Botany and Plant Pathology | Phone (503)-737-3451 Oregon State University | Corvallis, OR 97331-2902 | USA ______________________________________________________________________________