ABSTRACT
The storage and maintenance of organisms in a pure, viable and stable condition is essential for their use as reference strains, both in research and industrial processes. It is necessary to keep standard inocula in order that the quality and quantity of the product is maintained. In many cases, producers will keep their own starter cultures being familiar with the methods of storage and conditions required. They establish small private collections to provide working cultures for their own use, selecting suitable methods and procedures, the majority of which are common to all collections. The aims and objectives of all culture collections are similar, the differences are usually limited to the organisms kept and the size of the operation. The methods and facilities will depend upon the resources available. There are many collections established all over the world keeping a wide range of organisms, some keeping a few special strains, others keeping several thousands and making them available without restriction. The latter are sometimes termed service culture collections and may offer many other related services. It is essential that organisms supplied are correct and retain their characteristics. This requires sound quality control measures. To help culture collections set and maintain high standards, the World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC) have 16produced guidelines which outline the necessary requirements (Hawksworth, 1990). The first service culture collection was that of Frantisek Kral in the German Technical University in Prague established in 1890 (Sly & Kirsop, 1990). Since that time over 350 collections have registered with the World Data Center (WDC; Takishima et al, 1990). These are supplemented by many private and commercial collections who do not make a commitment to supply their strains. However, this already well established genetic resource falls short of representing the vast number of organisms in nature.
