"awakening" sleeping microbial strains
? Streptomyces
? Aspergillus
? Fungus
? Bacteria
? The picture shows the library of microbial strains. At present, the number of patented strains preserved by the General microbial strains Preservation Center in China is 11977, ranking second in the world. (photo source: science and Technology Daily)
An ancient strain, which has been sleeping for 20 years in China's General microbial species Preservation and Management Center, has recently become popular because of the Han Chunyu incident. This strain, called Halobacterium Grignard, is famous for its genome editing technology NgAgo-gDNA with the help of Han Chunyu, an associate professor at Hebei University of Science and Technology.
According to the China microbial Resources Development report 2016 released a few days ago, there are a total of 96907 biomaterials used in patent procedures in various preservation centers in the world, of which 11977 patented strains are preserved by the China General microbial species Preservation Center, ranking second in the world.
On September 14, the reporter went to the Preservation and Management Center of ordinary microbial strains in China (referred to as the Preservation Center) to explore the daily life of microbial strains.
? Supporting the "Life" Bank of the Future
Xin Yuhua, a senior engineer at the China General microbial strain Preservation and Management Center, said that Halobacterium Grignard was exchanged to China from Scotland by researcher Zhou Peijin, director of the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20 years ago. It was first isolated from Lake Magadi in Kenya. As one of the more than 5, 000 microorganisms in the preservation center, Halobacterium Grignard is dormant either by vacuum freeze-drying or by cryopreservation of liquid nitrogen at about-190 ℃.
Some strains have even slept in the freezer for more than half a century. "once there is a demand, they will be awakened and put into use." Xin Yuhua said. But today, 99% of microbes on the planet still don't know how to cultivate them. Only after training, can we know what they can do in the future and finally make use of them.
"the strains we choose generally have potential application value and rich biodiversity. Now, more and more microbes are 'awakened' and show their skills in various fields. " Xin Yuhua said. The microorganisms preserved in the bacterial protection center have been accumulated for a long time and continuously for several generations, and only time can reflect the value of microbial resources preservation. In addition, microbial resources are related to the future of biotechnology innovation.
It is worth noting that in May this year, the United States announced the launch of the National Microbiome Program, with the US government investing $121 million in start-up funding over the next two years and dozens of universities and research institutions spending $400m in the next few years.
There is double "insurance" in the preservation of bacteria.
As a national conservation center that can provide both general strain resource services and patented biomaterial preservation, the Preservation Center was listed as the International Collection Unit of the Budapest Treaty in 1995 and became an international license-holding microbial "bank".
"the main purpose here is to collect, preserve, identify, exchange and supply all kinds of biomaterials." Xin Yuhua told the Science and Technology Daily that some bacteria isolated from research and development can be stored as resource reserves because they do not know what function they have for the time being, while the bacteria that need to be collected and screened can also be stored for backup after the conclusion of the topic. Over the past few decades, the Preservation Center has provided hundreds of thousands of microbial strains of various types, making outstanding contributions to the research and development of life sciences and biotechnology in China.
Walking into the underground preservation center, there is a trace of coolness in the air, in sharp contrast to the stifling heat outside. In this 100-square-meter liquid nitrogen biological storage room, it is filled with about 30 "large jars" with a capacity of 750L, in which 53000 microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and yeasts are hidden.
"almost all the bacteria are stored in liquid nitrogen, and the biomaterials are preserved and 'backed up' here." Xin Yuhua picked up the lid of a liquid nitrogen tank, and the transpiring nitrogen rushed in his face, and the reporter subconsciously stepped back. Through the wreathed fog, all kinds of microbes "sleep" in small iron boxes.
"the temperature in the liquid nitrogen tank is maintained at about-190 ℃, and the bacteria can be preserved here for decades." Xin Yuhua pointed to the ceiling and said that when there is less liquid nitrogen, the "giant" liquid nitrogen tanks upstairs will be automatically sensed and added in time, and these expensive "refrigerants" will be shipped directly from Tianjin.
When I came to the cryogenic freezer, I seemed to have entered the bank vault. Rows of stainless steel cabinets up to the ceiling, each neatly lined with many "drawer"-like compartments. Pull out a "drawer" and you can see many vacuum tubes with different numbers of bacteria stored in them. The test tube is equipped with a yellowish, dried protective agent, in which there are "dormant" microorganisms. this preservation method is called vacuum freeze drying.
After double "insurance" preservation of bacteria, the price of a strain is only 500 won 1000 yuan. As a public welfare organization, the price of the preservation center is not expensive and the quality is guaranteed. It is worth noting that new microbial species need to be verified and preserved by the preservation center before they can be published in international journals, which is the authority of the China General microbial species Preservation Center.
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