-BCCM/DCG-

Group(s) of biological resources stored in the collection: eukaryotic algae, diatoms and other microalgae.

The BCCM/DCG public collection is a small but dedicated collection currently containing about 600 diatom strains belonging to 110 species, and is one of the few culture collections worldwide specialized in diatoms, the most species-rich and ecologically important algal group. All strains are publicly available for the scientific community and are distributed as research or reference material to scientific institutions and companies, under the conditions specified by the BCCM Material Transfer Agreement. Long-term preservation of diatom cultures is ensured by cryopreservation or in liquid culture, in which case strains gradually decrease in cell size and the life cycle has to be manipulated to establish new strains with the maximal cell size. The BCCM/DCG public collection is hosted by the Laboratory for Protistology & Aquatic Ecology (Ghent University, Belgium), internationally renowned for its research on diatom taxonomy, evolution, ecology and life cycles, for which routinely diatom cultures are established and experimentally manipulated. The interaction between the host laboratory and the culture collection offers a large added value to the collection as it ensures a detailed characterization of the strains and the necessary expertise for long-term storage of diatom strains and species. This has resulted in a unique collection of model diatoms for both fundamental and applied research.

The host laboratory makes intensive use of the diatom strains in the culture collection for its research projects, and contributes to the collection by depositing well-characterized strains interesting for future research and applications. The following research topics are addressed using a range of different approaches, including morphology, DNA sequences, transcriptome and genome studies, ecophysiological studies, crossing experiments, pedigree analyses,... : 

Accession, control, preservation, storage and supply of microalgae and related information in the frame of public deposits are ISO 9001:2015 certified.