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The All-Russian Collection of Microorganisms

The All-Russian Collection of Microorganisms

The All-Russian Collection of Microorganisms (VCM) is recognized as the International Depository and the largest in Russia non-medical microbiological collection. Structurally, VCM is a Department of the G.K. Skryabin Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms at the Pushchino Biological Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

General:

  • VCM is among the top ten collections in the world in terms of species diversity of filamentous fungi, yeasts and actinobacteria. The list of species maintained by VKM has been included in the World Directory of Collections of Cultures of Microorganisms of the World Data Centre, where VCM is assigned number 342
  • VCM Fund includes more than 23 thousand strains, representatives of all major super-kingdoms (filamentous and yeast fungi, archaea, bacteria, including actinobacteria) and physiological groups (including anaerobes, extremophiles).
  • VCM contains more than 2,700 type strains of species, more than 900 objects of intellectual property (deposited in VCM), a wide range of other cultures with unique properties and biotechnological potential, a large array of organisms of new taxa that have not yet been described.
  • The Open Catalog Collection includes more than 7,500 strains - representatives of more than 1,000 genera and 3,300 species.

Research interests:

  • Evaluation of the biological (genetic) diversity of microorganisms, inhabitants of various ecosystems and plant-animal associates.
  • Taxonomic study of new isolates and cultures of the collection fund, identification and description of new taxa, improvement of the classification system, development of identification methods.
  • Search and study of new microbial biopolymers, enzymes and secondary metabolites promising for solving taxonomic problems and practical use in biotechnology.

Services:

  1. Exchange and shipment of strains:
    • lyophilized sample (in ampoule)
    • active culture on a nutrient medium (in vitro)
    • active culture of anaerobic bacteria on a nutrient medium (in vitro)
    • a strain with certain properties or a test culture (lyophilized sample, ampoule)
  2. Deposition of strains
    • Deposition of strains in accordance with the patent procedure in force in the Russian Federation, with the provision of a certificate of deposit
    • Deposition according to the rules of the Budapest Treaty (international deposit system), with the provision of a certificate of deposit
    • Providing the depositor with a sample of the strain (1 sample per year for the first 5 years of storage; 1 sample every 3 years for the next 25 years)
    • Providing the depositor with an additional sample of the strain deposited in accordance with the patent procedure in force in the Russian Federation
    • Providing the depositor with an additional sample of the strain deposited under the rules of the Budapest Treaty
    • Providing a sample of the deposited strain to other persons having a permission from the depositor or in accordance with Rule 11 of the Instructions to the Budapest Treaty
    • Issuance of the Viability Certificate on the strain deposited according to the rules of the Budapest Treaty
    • Issuance of the Viability Certificate on the strain deposited in accordance with the patent procedure in force in the Russian Federation
    • Providing the depositor with a Notification of changes to the Strain Passport (scientific name of the strain, name of the depositor’s organization, etc.)
    • Providing copies of documents and exemptions from relevant documents
    • Depositing strains of microorganisms under open access conditions.
  3. Characteristics and identification of microbial strains

    Bacteria and Archaea

    • Identification of bacterial and archaeal strains based on 16S rRNA gene analysis
    • Identification of bacterial and archaeal strains based on analysis of functional genes (gyrB, recA, rpoB, ppk, etc.)
    • Identification of bacterial and archaeal strains by MALDI mass spectrometry using the Bruker database and local VCM database

    Filamentous fungi

    • Identification of filamentous fungi based on morphological characteristics
    • Identification of cultures of filamentous fungi based on analysis of nucleotide sequences of the ITS region
    • Phylogenetic analysis based on nucleotide sequences of the ITS region and D1-D3 domains of the large rRNA subunit

    Yeast

    • Identification of yeast cultures based on the analysis of nucleotide sequences of the ITS region and/or D1/D2 domains of the large rRNA subunit (DNA barcoding)
    • Phylogenetic analysis based on DNA regions (SSU, ITS, D1/D2 LSU domains) using data on functional gene sequences (TEF1a, RPB1, etc.)
  4. Other services:
    • Determination of morphological and physiological-biochemical characteristics
    • Determination of chemotaxonomic characteristics of microorganism strains
    • Determination of cell wall diaminopimelic acid isomer
    • Determination of the amino acid composition of peptidoglycan (with preliminary preparation of the cell wall)
    • Determination of fatty acid composition of whole cells
    • Determination of the composition of isoprenoid quinones of the respiratory chain (menaquinones, ubiquinones)
    • Determination of the composition of polar lipids
    • Analysis of metabolic products of microorganisms
    • Isolation and cultivation of microorganisms
    • Cleaning up contaminated culture received from the customer
    • Confidential storage
    • Preservation of the strain according to the standard procedure and storage for 1 year
    • Preservation of the strain according to standard procedures and its storage for 5 years
    • Providing upon request a sample of the strain to the depositor in an ampoule (once every six months)
    • Providing the depositor with an additional strain sample
    • Lyophilization of microbial strains
    • Lyophilization of strains provided by the customer (10 or more ampoules, volume 1.5 ml),
    • Isolation of microorganism strains from a culture association (mixed sample) received from the customer
    • Isolation of microorganisms of a certain physiological group or with specific properties from a natural sample
    • Production of the microbial biomass and culture liquid for analysis
    • Determination of fungal resistance of industrial materials and products in accordance with the requirements of GOST of the Russian Federation
    • Consultations to specialists, individual internships and advanced training courses on taxonomy and collection activities
    • Preparation of documents and international shipment (exchange) of microorganisms
    • Conducting examinations by the request of judicial investigative authorities and experts

Contact Information www.ibpm.ru https://www.vkm.ru/
evtushenko@pbcras.ru