Handbook Part 2 - International Mycological Association

S55IS3 - 0570
A global network of genetic resource centres to preserve fungal biodiversity
J.A. Stalpers 1, D. Smith 2, P.W. Crous 1, A. Nakagiri 3
1 CBS, Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht, Netherlands, 2 IMI, International Mycological Institute, Egham, Surrey, United
Kingdom, 3 Nite Biological Resource Centre, Chiba, Japan
Of the known 75.000 species of fungi, 30-40% are culturable with current techniques. Of these, about 18.000 species
are preserved in the world’s biological resource centres (BRC’s). Estimates of fungal biodiversity range from 0.5 to 10
million species; 1.5 million being the generally accepted estimate. This leaves us with 1.2% of the biodiversity available
as living cultures, many only known from a single strain. For most other groups of micro-organisms (bacteria, archea,
algae, protozoan, viruses, plasmids) the situation is worse. It is obvious that the world presently lacks the required
number of systematists to adequately document, describe and culture its biodiversity. Even if these fungi were to be
described, no single collection has the capacity to preserve such numbers. Moreover, the actual number of culture
collections is declining. It is therefore imperative that world-wide networks get established to preserve fungal
biodiversity for future generations.
In recent years the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has considered the possibility
to establish a Global Biological Resource Centre Network (GBRCN) to facilitate access to genetic resources.
A GBRCN must consider (a) its organization (e.g. minimum requirements for membership, structure of network), (b) the
distribution of knowledge and (c) the distribution of material. It has to collaborate with many existing organizations,
institutes and facilities, for example WFCC, WDCM, GBIF, Catalogue of Life (Species 2000), Index Fungorum,
Mycobank, GenBank. It has to consider the consequences of international treaties and national legislation, (OECD,
IATA. CBD) and provisions to prevent intentional and unintentional damage (bioterrorism, pathogens, non-indigenous
species).
A GBRCN should provide a means to cope with new challenges like barcoding of micro-organisms and DNA-banks.
It should form a material and intellectual infrastructure for life sciences and biotechnology.
S55PS1 - 0549
Cooperation between biological resource centers (BRCs) in the CBD era – A challenge of NBRC and BRCs
in Asia
A Nakagiri
NITE Biological Resource Center, National Institute of Technology and Evaluation, 2-5-8, Kazusakamatari, Kisarazu-shi,
Chiba, Japan
In the era of Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Biological Resource Centers (BRCs) are facing difficulties to
obtain biological resources from overseas and provide them for users. BRCs are required to collaborate with each
other, especially with those of foreign countries to overcome this problem. As an example of the challenge to this
problem, I’d like to introduce activities of NITE Biological Resource Center (NBRC, Japan) and its collaboration with
BRCs in Asian region.
In 2004, establishment of “Asian Consortium for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Microbial Resources (ACM)”
was proposed by NITE and agreed by 12 Asian countries. Aiming for practical activities including promotion of
research, human resource development and network formation, Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) have been
concluded between NITE and each of the representative institution of Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand and
China.
In a program of the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI) (2002-2004), mycologists of NBRC and LIPI (Indonesia) joined
together in the taxonomic study of fungi in Indonesia. This collaborative study achieved inventory data as well as an
advance in capacity building of mycology in Indonesia. Fungal strains isolated and identified in this study are
deposited to both collections of NBRC and LIPI, and are distributed to users according to the Material Transfer
Agreement (MTA). For enhancement of culture collection activity of both sides, NBRC and BCC (BIOTEC, Thailand)
are collaborating in the following programs: (1) Exchange of strains. The exchanged strains are deposited into the
collection of the counterpart, and then become available to users according to the MTA. (2) Cooperative studies of
taxonomy of fungi, yeasts and bacteria. After identification and taxonomic studies, the strains are deposited to the
both collections and opened to users in the same way of (1).
By these collaborations with overseas BRCs, NBRC is now able to transfer biological resources from some Asian
countries to NBRC collection and provide them for users in the manner following CBD. Moreover, these activities
certainly contribute to the safe preservation of biological resources by duplicate deposition at different BRCs as well
as technical transfer and human resource development of both of the partnered BRCs.
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