General Introduction

General Introduction and Aims

Introduction

The IEGM Collection is part of the Alkanotrophic Microorganism Laboratory at the Institute of Ecology and Genetics of Microorganisms, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The establishment of the present Collection originates from a concerted isolation of alkanotrophic microorganisms which was initiated in 1975 to study the potential use of this group of microorganisms as bioindicators of oil-bearing substrata and environmental pollution.

In 1995 the Regional Specialised Collection of Alkanotrophic Microorganisms was registered with the WDCM (World Data Centre for Microorganisms) under accession number 768.

The IEGM Collection has at present more than 3000 pure cultures of non-pathogenic aerobic bacteria isolated from subsurface core samples, stratal and surface waters, snow blanket, air and soil samples from contrasting ecological and geographical regions of the former Soviet Union. The bacteria belong to the genera Acinetobacter, Dermacoccus, Dietzia, Gordona, Kocuria, Micrococcus and Rhodococcus. Nocardioform bacteria of the genus Rhodococcus (Zopf 1891) Goodfellow and Alderson 1977 constitute the major part of the IEGM Collection. The Collection includes cultures of extremophilic forms; strains which degrade a range of organic pollutants and strains which produce amino acids, vitamins and biosurfactants of potential commercial value.

The IEGM Collection has a bank of specific polyclonal antisera against the majority of valid species of Dermacoccus, Dietzia, Gordona, Kocuria, Micrococcus and Rhodococcus.

Main study areas for the IEGM Collection include: general and applied microbiology, microbial ecology, physiology, systematics and taxonomy, and microbial diversity.

Aims

To isolate, study and maintain authentic bacterial strains possessing high oxygenase activity of relevance for microbiology, genetics and the development of new biotechnologies, teaching and applied purposes, thus providing a representation of microbial genetic resources for present and future generations
To provide continuous transfer of strains and relevant information to users in accordance with National and International regulations
To consult users on the problems of isolation, cultivation, taxonomy and preservation of microorganisms, bioinformatics, etc through a Rhodococcus Network
To provide services on identification of strains using current methods of polyphase taxonomic analysis
To accept for safe storage cultures of organisms which use gaseous (ethane, propane and n-butane) and liquid hydrocarbons as a sole carbon sources
To provide biological information on cultures stored in the IEGM Collection both through issuing of catalogues and through computerised databases using the Internet
To cooperate with National and International microbial collections and particularly with the World Federation for Culture Collections
To carry out training courses on methods of isolation, cultivation and identification of prokaryotic organisms