Support of a Living Stock Center of Fungi/Yeasts for Research

American Type Culture Collection, Manassas VA

Investigators

Abstract

This award renews support for a large collection of fungi and yeast maintained by the American Type Culture Collection. The mission of the ATCC Mycological Collection is to acquire, authenticate, preserve, and distribute fungi and yeasts, as well as to provide information and standards for their use in research, education and industry. Through this direct support, the NSF provides slightly less than 10% of the cost of the collection. Additional funding is provided from other federal sources, but the major sources of funding are from user fees and institutional funds. The collection presently maintains approximately 29,000 fungal strains representing over 7,000 species and 1,500 genera, and distributes more than 9,000 cultures a year. Approximately 3000 strains were added to the collection during the last 5 years. A modest charge is made for each culture. This is one of the largest and most important fungal collections in the world, and the only such general purpose collection in this country.