Importance of Culture Collections of Microorganisms (CCMs) for the Conservation of Microbial Biotechnological Resources of the Brazilian Semi-arid Region

Ana Paula Trovatti Uetanabaro and Aristóteles Góes-Neto



Culture Collections of Microorganisms (CCMs) are centers of conservation of ex-situ genetical resources, which have acquisition, characterization, maintenance, and distribution of microorganisms, authenticated cell cultures and certified biological reagents as their main roles. These collections also provide specialized services and are centers of information. Different types of culture collections – research, institutional and mainly service collections – are highly important for the conservation and exploitation of genetic and metabolic diversity .

CCMs have an important role on the development of biotechnological products because they are depositories for the conservation and maintenance of their characteristics. Products from microbial origin are used in the agriculture (increase of soil fertility; biological fixation of nitrogen; biological control of insects and pathogens; growth promoters in plants); pharmacy (production of antibiotics, antifungal and antiviral agents, and biopolymers of medical application), food production (production of drinks) and in chemical industry (production of biosurfactants; polysaccharides; enzymes for use in detergents; textile products; paper and cellulose). Some microorganisms are related to energy production since they are excellent alcohol producers. They are also used in the environmental sanitation, notably in advanced techniques of bioremediation of toxic residues. Besides these applications, cultures of microorganisms are also used in teaching, taxonomic studies, identification of pathogens and tests for quality control of products and materials .

Because of the important applications of microorganisms, microbiological collections are strategic resources of national security, which can be part in the innovating infrastructure of a country. Information on these collections is a key resource the country can make use of in order to establish fast and efficient strategies for scientific and technological development .

In Brazil , there are few collections whose data are totally or partially digitized, or even available on the internet . Although information can be easily obtained contacting their curators, complete digitization of microbial collections will make the access to the material even easier and will improve quality and efficiency of the documentation procedures, collection management and specialized services.

In order to know and support CCMs placed in the Brazilian Semi-arid, which hold material from this area, PPBio (Chapter 2) is carrying out a survey on their infrastructure, collection and needs so that their services can be improved. Up to now, a preliminary survey of the CCMs situated in the region has been carried out. Information was obtained via an electronic form sent to the collections or through visits to some participating collections. According to the information provided, four of them make microbial cultures of prokaryotes and eukaryotes available under request by the academic and productive sectors.

These collections are very important since they are composed of microbial strains isolated in the Brazilian Semi-arid, a region which has been little explored regarding its microbial diversity. Collections can be contacted via their curators. Considering collections and services provided, it is worth mentioning the following collections in the Brazilian semi-arid region (curators and contacts):

• Culture Collection of Microorganisms of Bahia (CCMB), UEFS;

• Mycotheca of UFPE (URM);

• Collection of Microorganisms of the Department of Antibiotics (DAUFPE), UFPE;

• Culture Collection and Preservation of Genomes of Zoosporic Fungi (CCPGFZ), UFPI.

Up to September of 2005, the CCMB collection had 256 samples (bacteria, filamentous fungi and yeast); DAUFPE had around 4,000 samples of actinomycetes and 500 of other bacteria; the one at URM had 200 species of yeast and around 1,100 species of filamentous fungi and; CCPGFZ had 77 strains of zoosporic fungi. Preliminary results showed that the main needs of these collections are related to the lack of staff and computers for digitization of the data. Currently, PPBio of the Semi-arid has supported the digitization of the collection aforementioned but with multi-user servers of the institutions. In order to improve the service, as well as online availability of the collections at the CCMs, we suggest the acquisition of one server for each collection.

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Canhos, V.P. & R.F. Vazoller. 2004. A Importância das Coleções Biológicas. http://www.comciencia.br/reportagens/framereport.htm.

Ministério de Ciências e Tecnologia, 2002. Programa de Biotecnologia e Recursos Genéticos – Definição de Metas. Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia, Brasília-DF.

Canhos, V.P., C. Umino & G.P. Manfio. 1999. Coleções de culturas de microrganismos. In M.C.W. de Brito e C.A. Joly (eds.) Biodiversidade do Estado de São Paulo, Brasil: Síntese do Conhecimento no Final do Século XX. Volume 7: Infra-estrutura de Conservação in-situ e ex-situ. Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, pp. 81-101; http://www.biota.org.br