1. The context

Within this project, the Belgian Science Policy Office intends to enlarge the patrimony and to broaden the scope and domain of the Belgian Coordinated Collections of Micro-organisms (BCCM), by supporting additional collections of interesting organism types. From the several research collections present in Belgian institutes, three collections were selected based on the extent of their holdings, their uniqueness, and their associated level of scientific expertise: the Diatom Collection at the Ghent University, the Polar Cyanobacteria Collection at the Liège University and the Mycobacteria Collection at the Institute for Tropical Medicine in Antwerp.
Despite of their clear interest for scientific, industrial, environmental and medical R&D applications, all three of these organism types are at present largely under-represented in the public biological resource centres world-wide.

Figure 5: Achnanthes, photo: V.Chepurnav, PAE

2. The organisms

The Collection of Diatoms

Diatoms are the most species-rich (c. 100 000) group of aquatic photosynthetic unicellular eukaryotic organisms (algae) in freshwater and marine ecosystems. They account for about a half of net primary oceanic production and control to a signifcant extent global biogeochemical cycles of silica and carbon. Ecologically, these organisms are very interesting for the monitoring of the quality of the environment. There is a promising scope for industrial applications of diatoms thanks to their production of essential fatty acids and other metabolites. Diatoms are also candidate organisms for the production of biofuels. In aquaculture, they represent a primary source of nutrition.
The Diatom collection currently maintains more than 170 extensively documented clones of several diatom species belonging to various branches in the phylogenetic tree and representing original isolates from different environments.

The collection of Polar Cyanobacteria

Cyanobacteria or blue-green algae had an unique role in the evolution of life on earth, as they caused the oxygenation of the atmosphere Polar cyanobacteria are microbial resources of importance in biotechnological and pharmaceutical research. It has been reported that many species belonging to Oscillatoriales and Nostocales produce bioactive secondary metabolites, including lipopeptides, depsipeptides, macrolides, macrocycles, indoles and alkaloids. The associated effects range from anticancer, antifungal, antibacterial to antimalarial and antiviral activities.

The collection of Cyanobacteria consists of about 100 strains, originating from different regions of Antarctica (South Victoria Land, Eastern Antarctica), the Arctic (Northern Canada, Arctic seas, Alaska) and Siberian lakes and from different biotopes (microbial mats, lakes, ice shelves, dry valleys, rock undersurfaces and interior, ocean). The three orders of cyanobacteria (Chroococcales, Oscillatoriales, Nostocales) are represented. Most of the isolates are psychrotolerant. The extreme environmental conditions of the polar biotopes have probably selected for particular genotypes and these organisms may have molecules and enzymes with interesting tolerances.

The collection of Mycobacteria

The genus Mycobacterium encompasses more than hundred species and includes species that are pathogenic or potentially pathogenic both for humans and animals. The most important species are M. tuberculosis, M. leprae and M. ulcerans.
The collection of Mycobacteria contains isolates of these 3 species as well as a unique set of atypical mycobacteria, including the difficult-to-culture species M. genavense, M. haemophilium and M. lepraemurium. The isolates originate from all continents, and were collected from 1960 to date. These well-documented strains represent several drug-resistance profiles and genotypes characterized by phenotypic and/or genotypic tests. The mycobacteria collection also houses a set of well-characterized M. tuberculosis isolates of the WHO-based Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, known as TDR.

3. The project

The project will allow the Diatom, Polar Cyanobacteria and Mycobacteria collections to evolve from in-house research collections to research-based public service collections. Therefore, the following work packages have been defined:

• Selection of strains for public access,
• Check of viability and purity,
• Check of authenticity,
• Optimization of preservation techniques for distribution purposes,
• Preparation of a distribution stock,
• Restructuring of databases in compliance with BCCM formats,
• Integration of homepages into the BCCM website,
• Set up of a quality management system,
• Design of a legal and administrative framework.

The know-how and the expertise in the management and operation of a biological resource centre built by the BCCM, is made available to the project partners to facilitate their transition from research collections to research-based public BRCs. Extending the domain of the BCCM by supporting additional collection of interesting organism types, will reinforce its position as renewed BRC and as platform for life sciences and biotechnology. The launch of the first online catalogues of the new collections is foreseen for 2008.

4. Contact details of the partners