ABSTRACT
Micro-organisms are important to the continued existence of life on planet Earth, through their role in recycling of organic matter and maintenance of the geochemical cycles of nitrogen, sulphur, carbon and metals. Their importance in animal, plant and human welfare and their multitude of industrial uses from beer production to biosyntheses is legend. Micro-organisms are the source of many forms of natural crop control, are increasingly being used in bioremediation, and are the source of processes that have driven the biotechnology industry. Their association with plants as symbionts, pathogens, endophytes, epiphytes or antagonists, or in litter decomposition is such that it is fair to say that the total value of microbial life forms to the human race is immeasurable (Artuso, 1998). Despite this, the need for continued maintenance of characteristic strains and isolates of microbes in virtual perpetuity is far from obvious to many, and resources devoted to microbial culture collections compared with their importance are trivial. Their mere size relegates them, in most cases, to ‘out of sight, out of mind’. Even in legislative tomes aimed at conserving biodiversity, micro-organisms rarely, if ever, get a mention (Davison et al., 1999; Kirsop, 1996; Sands, 1996).
