Abstract
Environmental research delivers valuable bacterial resources for biotechnology. We believe that systematic long-term preservation of bacteria will promote future biotechnological innovations, by safeguarding the accessibility of bacteria already recognized to have interesting features and providing a “pool” of bacterial resources for novel applied research. To this end, we want to advocate the incorporation of preservation tests in environmental or applied microbiological research. This paper introduces non-specialists to different preservation methods for bacteria. Several parameters that influence long-term storage of bacterial resources are explained and practical tips and guidelines are formulated. Also, the vital role of public culture collections is highlighted and the state-of-the-art of preservation of non-pure cultures is described.
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Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the Geconcerteerde Onderzoeksactie (GOA) of Ghent University (BOF09/GOA/005). The authors are grateful to Dr. Eva Spieck and Dr. Andreas Pömmerening-Roeser (Hamburg University, Germany) for providing nitrite- and ammonia-oxidizing strains which were used in unpublished preservation research.
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Heylen, K., Hoefman, S., Vekeman, B. et al. Safeguarding bacterial resources promotes biotechnological innovation. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 94, 565–574 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-011-3797-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-011-3797-y