hanusj@bionette.cgrb.orst.edu (Joe Hanus - Botany) (11/11/89)
SUMMARY: If you maintain a collection of microorganisms or
subcellular entities you will be interested in the Newsletter of
the Microbial Germplasm Database. While the database is oriented
primarily toward collections of microorganisms utilized in plant-
related research, the Newletter contains information useful to
all scientists envolved with culture collections and the use
of computers and telecommunication in the biological sciences.
Reply to this posting and an e-mail version of the Newsletter will
be sent to you. Should you desire to be placed on the mailing list
for the hardcopy version, request this in your reply and include your
mailing address.
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ANNOUNCEMENT
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, a
major source of concern to the World Federation of Culture Collections.
These collections are endangered primarily because of lack of funds for
maintenance, retirement or change of research interest 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 ofthe 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
databases such as MSDN (Microbial Strain Data Network), MINE (Microbial
Information Network in Europe) and the WDC (World Data Center in Japan)
that serve the needs of larger collections.
The third 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.