1. Conditions for deposition

The Committee for Evaluating Microbial Culture Strains at NIES (abbreviated hereafter to CEMCS) decides whether to accept deposited strains in accordance with the following conditions. In principle, all deposited strains are open to the public once their acceptance is approved by the CEMCS.

  1. The organisms are scientifically important cyanobacteria, microalgae, or protozoa: e.g. microorganisms that cause or remediate environmental problems, bioindicators, type and authentic strains, microorganisms with useful physiological and biochemical properties, and established strains that have been used for valuable research.
  2. The background of the strain has been clarified and the species name established. However, strains that have been used in a number of studies may be accepted even if only the genus name is known.
  3. The strain should be stable under defined culture conditions and shall be in one of the following states:
    - microalgae: clonal or unialgal strain (axenic strains are preferable)
    - protozoa: axenic or xenic strain with supplemented microorganisms as food
    - bacteria: pure strain
  4. Some other microorganisms may be accepted for deposit if the CEMCS recognizes their importance.

2. Agreement for deposition

The NIES-Collection shall accept the depositor’s submission of the Strain Deposit Request and Agreement Form when he/she agrees to the following conditions:

  1. The depositor shall deposit the strain in the NIES-Collection without charge. Transfer of intellectual property is not included in the agreement. The NIES-Collection may maintain and culture the strain and distribute it to users.
  2. Depositors shall submit accurate strain data to the NIES-Collection; these data shall include patents, properties, and states of the strain (see Strain Deposit Request and Agreement Form).
  3. The strain shall be free from any limitation, legally and contractually, pursuant to one of the following reasons:
    - The strain was isolated/developed by the depositor.
    - The strain is deposited with the permission of the isolator/ developer/ collaborator from the original country (if collected in a foreign country)
    - The strain has been purchased without any limitation regarding the deposit thereof, and with the permission of the original collection.
  4. The NIES-Collection may distribute the deposited strains to users in accordance with the following condition(s):
    - The strain shall not be disclosed to the public until the paper regarding the strain has been published.
    - Other conditions specified by the depositor.
    These conditions shall last no longer than 1 year, and the strain will be open to the public after that year, even if the depositor imposes conditions. If the depositor does not specify any conditions, then the strain will be open to the public immediately after approval by the CEMCS.
  5. The NIES-Collection shall bear no responsibility for inevitable change and loss during maintenance, or for loss caused by natural disasters.
  6. The NIES-Collection may stop the maintenance and distribution of the strain according to a decision of the CEMCS.

3. How to deposit a strain

Deposition of the strain

Strains are deposited by completing the “Strain Deposit Request and Agreement Form” ( PDF / Word ) and by sending two original copies of the “Strain Deposit Request and Agreement Form” to the following address by mail:

Microbial Culture Collection,
National Institute for Environmental Studies,
16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, JAPAN
Phone : +81-29-850-2556
Fax : +81-29-850-2587
E-mail

After the acceptance of the deposition, the depositor must send the actively growing cultures in accordance with the instructions of the collection staff ( E-mail ). If the state of the deposited strain does not coincide with the description on the Strain Deposit Request and Agreement Form, or if the strain does not meet any of the conditions described above, then the NIES-Collection may cancel the deposition.

Notice for deposition of strains collected from foreign countries

The NIES-Collection shall not accept the deposition of strains collected from foreign countries without the written permission of the collaborator(s) in the original country. For the appropriate acceptance of algae strains, we will ask the depositor to provide permissions or other documents relevant to acquisition of samples/strains. Please contact to E-mail for further information.

Notice for the deposition of strains maintained in other culture collections

At present, the NIES-Collection does not accept the deposition of strains maintained in other culture collections by the user without written permission from the original collections, even if the collection does not prohibit distribution of the strains to a third party. We may accept strains from other culture collections only by exchange between the collections.


page-top