Guide To Strains Selection
Microorganisms for quality control (QC) work should be obtained from an international culture collection registered with the European Culture Collection's Organization (ECCO) or the World Federation of Culture Collections (WFCC). The CCUG would be able to provide contacts to other ECCO collections.
CCUG provides strains as freeze-dried (lyophilized) biomass in glass ampoules; we do not preserve cultures in liquid N2. We do provide genomic DNA of strains, upon demand.
Freeze-drying is the CCUG preferred method for long-term preservation of microorganisms to be distributed at room temperature. Most lyophilized biomass of strains will remain viable for decades if kept in the dark at a temperature of +4°C to +8°C. (Some fastidious organisms, such as Helicobacter spp., constitute an important exception; storage of freeze-dried Helicobacter spp. should not exceed 3 years).
If you do not have experience in ordering strains, we suggest that you send an email to the Curator explaining your needs. If you know the species you want, but not the strain accession numbers, just order the species. The CCUG normally recommends the type strains (marked by T with the accession number) for most applications
We strongly recommend our Search tool. Please read carefully the strain entries. If there is a "#" after the accession number, select another strain or check with the Curator/lab.
If you do not wish to order the type strain of a species, we recommend that you order a strain with the most information available. The CCUG may reprocess and confirm identification of any strain of interest if the identification is doubtful or with an old deposit date.
If you need a large set-up of strains of DNA-groups, serotype, serogroup etc, please inquire about the availability.