UKNCC Biological Resource: Properties, Maintenance and Management The UK National Culture Collection (UKNCC) Biological Resource: Properties, Maintenance and Management Edited by David Smith Matthew J. Ryan John G. Day with the assistance of Sarah Clayton, Paul D. Bridge, Peter Green, Alan Buddie and others Preface by Professor Mike Goodfellow Chair of the UKNCC Steering Group i UKNCC Biological Resource: Properties, Maintenance and Management THE UNITED KINGDOM NATIONAL CULTURE COLLECTION (UKNCC) Published by: The UK National Culture Collection (UKNCC) Bakeham Lane, Egham, Surrey, TW20 9TY, UK. Tel: +44-1491 829046, Fax: +44-1491 829100; Email: [email protected] Printed by: Pineapple Planet Design Studio Ltd. ‘Pickwicks’ 42 Devizes Road Old Town Swindon SN1 4BG © 2001 The United Kingdom National Culture Collection (UKNCC) No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, or transmitted, nor translated into a machine language without the written permission of the UKNCC secretariat. ISBN 0 9540285 0 3 ii UKNCC Biological Resource: Properties, Maintenance and Management UKNCC MEMBER COLLECTION CONTACT ADDRESSES CABI Bioscience UK Centre (Egham) formerly the International Mycological Institute and incorporating the National Collection of Fungus Cultures and the National Collection of Wood-rotting Fungi- NCWRF) Bakeham Lane, Egham, Surrey, TW20 9TY, UK. Tel: +44-1491 829080, Fax: +44-1491 829100; Email: [email protected] Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa (freshwater) Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Windermere, The Ferry House, Far Sawrey, Ambleside, Cumbria, LA22 0LP, UK. Tel: +44-15394-42468; Fax: +44-15394-46914 Email: [email protected] Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa (marine algae) Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory, P.O. Box 3, Oban, Argyll, PA34 4AD, UK. Tel: +44-1631-559000; Fax: +44-1631-559001 Email: [email protected] European Collection of Cell Cultures Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research, Porton Down, Salisbury, Wilts, SP4 0JG, UK. Tel: +44-1980 612512; Fax: +44-1980-611315 Email: [email protected] NCIMB Ltd., National Collections of Industrial, Food and Marine Bacteria (incorporating the National Collection of Industrial and Marine Bacteria, NCIMB and the National Collection of Food Bacteria, NCFB), 23 St. Machar Drive, Aberdeen, AB24 3RY, UK. Tel: +44 1224 273332; Fax: +44 1224 272461; E mail: [email protected] National Collection of Pathogenic Fungi Public Health Laboratory, Mycological Reference Laboratory, Myrtle Road, Kingsdown, Bristol BS2 8EL, UK. Tel: +44-117-9291326; Fax: +44-117-9226611 Email: [email protected] National Collection of Plant Pathogenic Bacteria Central Science Laboratory, MAFF, Sand Hutton, York, YO4 1LZ, UK. Tel: +44-1904 462 000; Fax: +44-1904 462 111 Email: [email protected] National Collection of Pathogenic Viruses Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research, Porton Down, Salisbury, SP4 0JG, UK. Tel: +44-1980-612 619; Fax: +44-01980-612 731; Email: [email protected] National Collection of Type Cultures PHLS Central Public Health Laboratory, 61 Colindale Avenue, London, NW9 5HT, UK. Tel: +44-020-8200 4400; Fax: +44-020-8205 7483 Email: [email protected] National Collection of Yeast Cultures IFR Enterprises Ltd., Institute of Food Research (IFR), Norwich Research Park, Colney, Norwich, NR4 7UA, UK. Tel: +44-1603-255000; Fax: +44-1603-458414 Email: [email protected] iii UKNCC Biological Resource: Properties, Maintenance and Management Preface Culture collections have provided a service to the scientific community for over fifty years. The first “service collection” was established by Franticek Král in Prague towards the end of the nineteenth century. In the ensuing years, several service culture collections were established worldwide, not least in the United Kingdom. The traditional role of such collections was to provide the scientific community with access to authenticated cultures and specialist advice on their cultivation and preservation. The ex situ conservation of micro-organisms was seen to be essential for ensuring that a source of living cells were readily available for scientific purposes of both a pure and applied nature. This is still the case, especially since micro-organisms isolated from environmental samples cannot always be found again and even if fresh isolates are obtained, they may lack the desired properties expressed by the earlier strains. In recent years, other services have been added to the curatorial role of service culture collections, such as patent deposit facilities and the supply of cultures for quality control. Indeed, service culture collections have evolved into Biological Resource Centres (BRC’s) thereby responding to revolutionary developments in areas such as molecular biology and bioinformatics. The current role of BRC’s is to provide the scientific world with access to properly maintained culturable material (eg animal and plant cell lines, archaea, bacteria, fungi, viruses), replicate parts of these (eg CDNA banks, genomes and plasmids), and associated databases. As a consequence of these developments BRC’s form an invaluable part of the infrastructure that underpins the conservation of microbial diversity, developments in microbial technology, and ecological structures linked to the sustainability of life support systems. The need to further develop collections was recognised by advisors to the UK Government in the 1990s resulting in the establishment of the UK National Culture Collection (UKNCC), bringing together expertise and co-ordinating some essential activities. This has created a critical mass to enable the member collections to achieve much more together. More recently the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD) have been discussing the long-term sustainability and development of todays culture collection into tomorrows BRC to better serve the changing needs of the users of micro-organisms, cell lines and the associated data. It has been recognised by both that high quality services must be provided and international linkages established to share tasks and broaden coverage. The UKNCC has made huge strides towards such goals since its conception and this manual outlines some of the key principles and procedures behind such development. The traditional expertise and new skills that are becoming stock-in-trade for those working in service collections which form the United Kingdom National Culture Collection (UKNCC) are reflected in this microbiological cornucopia. The manual contains a wealth of invaluable specialist information which will be drawn upon by researchers and practitioners in academia, research institutes and industry. The editors and contributors to the manual are to be commended for breaking new ground and in so doing showing the shape of things to come from Biological Resource Centres. Professor Mike Goodfellow 15 February 2001 iv UKNCC Biological Resource: Properties, Maintenance and Management Editors David Smith PhD, UKNCC secretariat and Curator, CABI Genetic Resource Collection, Bakeham Lane, Egham, Surrey, TW20 9TY, UK. Tel: +44-1491 829046, Fax: +44-1491 829100; Email: [email protected] Matthew J. Ryan PhD, UKNCC post doctoral position sponsored by MAFF based at CABI Bioscience UK Centre, Bakeham Lane, Egham Surrey, TW20 9TY, UK. Tel: +44-1491 829000, Fax: +44-1491 829100; Email: [email protected] John G. Day PhD, Curator, Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa (freshwater) Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Windermere, The Ferry House, Far Sawrey, Ambleside, Cumbria, LA22 0LP, UK. Tel: +44-15394-42468, Fax: +44-15394-46914; Email: [email protected] Contributors Sarah Clayton BSc employed as a project student by the UKNCC based at CABI Bioscience UK Centre, Bakeham Lane, Egham Surrey, TW20 9TY, UK. Paul D. Bridge PhD, Professor in Biosciences, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HX, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7631-6238, Fax: +44 (0) 20 7631-6246; Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Peter Green PhD, Curator, National Collections of Industrial, Food and Marine Bacteria 23 St. Machar Drive, Aberdeen, AB24 3RY, UK. Tel: +44 1224 273332, Fax: +44 1224 487658; Email: [email protected] Alan Buddie PhD, CABI Bioscience UK Centre, Bakeham Lane, Egham Surrey, TW20 9TY, UK. Tel: +44-1491 829000, Fax: +44-1491 829100; Email: [email protected] Professor Mike Goodfellow, Dept of Agricultural and Environmental Science, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, The Old Medical School, Framlington Place, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 4HH. Tel: 0191 222 7706; Email: [email protected] Acknowledgements The editors would like to thank the UKNCC member collection curators and staff for their advice and comment and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) for their financial support in the production of this book. Safety Considerations All of the procedures described in this book are designed for use by trained researchers in adequately equipped and supervised laboratories. A complete risk assessment should be carried out for each researcher. Many of the chemicals mentioned are listed as toxic, mutagenic, carcinogenic, harmful and/or irritant, while electophoretic procedures use high voltage electricity. Safety awareness is essential when undertaking these methods. v UKNCC Biological Resource: Properties, Maintenance and Management Contents Preface ..........................................................................................................................................................iv