Managing Global Genetic Resources Agricultural Crop Issues and Policies (1993) / Chapter Skim
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10. The Genetic Resources of Microorganisms
10. The Genetic Resources of Microorganisms
Pages 239-256
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From page 239... ...
Similarly, the genetic resources conservation movement has tended to underemphasize microorganisms, perhaps partly because of the common misconception that these are ubiquitous and so do not merit consideration in a conservation context. In ecosystems, microorganisms are important as symbionts (endophytes, mycorrhizae, and in insect guts)
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From page 240... ...
Sixteen MIRCENs are currently recognized worldwide and are expected to provide the infrastructure for an international network geared to the management, distribution, and utilization of the world's microbial gene pool. The European Culture Collections Organization, founded in 1982, has provided synopses of the resources available in Europe and arranges annual conferences.
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From page 241... ...
Such collections are often unique resources, because they include novel and unusual strains in restricted groups, but long-term storage facilities are rarely adequate and resources permit cultures to be made available only to close colleagues. Research collections are often endangered or lost when individual scientists change positions, retire, or pursue different lines of research.
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From page 242... ...
; numerous special forms and races of plant pathogenic fungal species are kept at the collection of fungal pathotypes of the Institut voor Plantenziektenkundig Ondersoek in Wageningen, The Netherlands; 6,000 strains of Escherichia cold with various genetic markers are maintained at the E cold Genetic Stock Center (Bachmann, 1988)
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From page 244... ...
The present efforts have developed on an ad hoc basis over the past 80 years, and at present, they do not appear to be capable of adequately conserving this vital world resource. Informal and often unwritten agreements to specialize in different areas exist between collections, as their curators are generally alert to the need to maximize their combined efforts to adequately preserve the microbial gene pool.
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From page 245... ...
MAINTENANCE OF GENETIC STABILITY IN CULTURE Preservation methods of major service culture collections that aim to conserve genetic resources must be capable of maintaining genetic stability and viability in the long term. This is of major concern not only from the conservation standpoint but also to industry, agriculture, and medicine, for which particular biochemical, pathogenic, or other attributes need to be safeguarded.
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From page 246... ...
Traditional Preservation Methods Traditional preservation methods involving regular subculturing of growth at low temperatures or maintenance under mineral oil are subject to inadvertent selection and contamination, especially when collections lack sufficient numbers of specialists to operate adequate quality control protocols. While growth is continuing, albeit at a much reduced rate, normal sexual processes involving changes in the genome can occur; these can include sexual and parasexual recombination, aneuploidy, and polyploidy.
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From page 247... ...
and plant viruses, they can sometimes be successfully maintained by placing the infected host tissue in liquid nitrogen. At present, the major service culture collections lack the substantial resources necessary to take advantage of the enormous potential for such on-host preservation.
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From page 248... ...
Although the conservation of unmodified natural habitats should be supported by microbiologists, as they are sources of numerous novel organisms, in general, in situ conservation is not a viable option for the supply of already isolated and characterized microbial genetic material to researchers. POTENTIAL OF MICROBES IN THE AGRICULTURAL, BIOTECHNOLOGICAL, AND INDUSTRIAL SECTORS The current uses to which microorganisms are put in the agricultural (including food)
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From page 249... ...
Gene sequences producing desired enzymes or other compounds from one organism can be introduced via plasmids into the cells or, in some cases, the genomes of hosts, which can be cultured in bulk. Examples are the transfer of the insecticidal crystal protein gene from Bacillus thuring~ensis into Escherichia cold (Qi and Yunliu, 1988~; manufacture of human insulin, alpha interferon, and other products from similarly engineered E
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From page 250... ...
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From page 251... ...
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From page 252... ...
They are also essential for raising monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies and developing other diagnostic methods for the rapid identification of pathogens; the strains from a wide geographic or host spectrum essential to developing such systems are only likely to be supplied quickly through service culture collections.
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From page 253... ...
The need to conserve genetic resources was stressed in 1972 at the United Nations Conference on the Environment (United Nations, 1973~. Unfortunately, the participants did not appear to have appreciated the enormous diversity of microorganisms not preserved in culture collections.
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From page 254... ...
To achieve these two objectives, a substantial increase in existing capacity would be required (Table 10-1~. The system of base collections specializing in particular regions developed by the International Board on Plant Genetic Resources appears to be a model for developing a strategy for the world conservation of microorganisms.
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From page 255... ...
The Genetic Resources of Microorganisms / 255 computerized data bases readily accessible over telephone lines or electronic mail networks are required; significant progress in this direction is being made through the MSDN and MINE/MiCIS initiatives (see above) , but progress has been slow because of limited resources.
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