Yeast culture collections in the twenty‐first century: new opportunities and challenges

Abstract

The twenty-first century has brought new opportunities and challenges to yeast culture collections, whether they are long-standing or recently established. Basic functions such as archiving, characterizing and distributing yeasts continue, but with expanded responsibilities and emerging opportunities. In addition to a number of well-known, large public repositories, there are dozens of smaller public collections that differ in the range of species and strains preserved, field of emphasis and services offered. Several collections have converted their catalogues to comprehensive databases and synchronize them continuously through public services, making it easier for users worldwide to locate a suitable source for specific yeast strains and the data associated with these yeasts. In-house research such as yeast taxonomy continues to be important at culture collections. Because yeast culture collections preserve a broad diversity of species and strains within a species, they are able to make discoveries in many other areas as well, such as biotechnology, functional, comparative and evolution genomics, bioprocesses and novel products. Due to the implementation of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Nagoya Protocol (NP), there are new requirements for both depositors and users to ensure that yeasts were collected following proper procedures and to guarantee that the country of origin will be considered if benefits arise from a yeast's utilization. Intellectual property rights (IPRs) are extremely relevant to the current access and benefit-sharing (ABS) mechanisms; most research and development involving genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge will be subject to this topic.

Study of Holtermanniella wattica, Leucosporidium creatinivorum, Naganishia adeliensis, Solicoccozyma aeria, and Solicoccozyma terricola for their lipogenic aptitude from different carbon sources

“…All 71 selected strains were isolated from environmental sources, confirming the potential of this portion of yeast biodiversity as important (and understudied) source of biochemicals, including lipids. This set of new oleaginous yeasts included strains isolated and deposited in the Industrial Yeast Collection DBVPG in the last years, as well as strains maintained for over seven decades, emphasizing the importance of long-term preservation of biodiversity in biological culture collections for future research, as recently highlighted [46]. …”

The U.S. Culture Collection Network Responding to the Requirements of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing

“…Additional U.S. collections described at the February 2017 USCCN meeting included a freshwater alga collection (UTEX Culture Collection of Algae) (36), a cave microbe collection (University of Akron) (7), and a biodiversity collection of yeasts (Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, University of California, Davis) (37). These collections hold diverse resources used in genetic, biodiversity, and industrial biotechnology research.…”

The challenges faced by living stock collections in the USA

“…The ratification and activation of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing in 2014 (Dedeurwaerdere et al, 2012), and of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in 2004 (Mekouar, 2002), has required that research and development consider the place of origin in sourcing research materials. Living collections are key partners in ensuring that materials are ethically and legally procured (Boundy-Mills et al, 2016). …”