Services

Distribution of Strains

Strains are distributed in TSA slants covered with mineral oil (see image), with an estimated viability of about one month. Upon request, strains can also be sent freeze-dried for an additional cost. We can also deliver DNA from many of the strains available; please ask us for this option.

We do not use courier services (e.g., DHL, FedEx) for shipping, as the associated paperwork is time-consuming. Instead, we prefer regular postal services, which take longer but are generally reliable.

Some strains obtained after 12 Oct. 2014 are restricted by the Nagoya Protocol, limiting their distribution and consequently hindering the advancement of science and the sharing of strains.

Vial Image

All strains are subject to the following Material Transfer Agreement (MTA in English) and Acuerdo de Transferencia de Material (MTA en español).

Deposit of Strains in CAIM

The Collection accepts a limited number of strains and always in the open collection, available openly for distribution. We do not endorse patent deposit as we believe that living organisms should not be patented.

Please get in touch with us for more details. You can download the CAIM Deposition of Strains Form directly; please fill as much information as possible.

Identification of Strains

Identification of bacteria is done by sequencing the genome of the strain and comparing it with genomes in the GTDB database. This can be done by sequencing at a low depth (<10X) just for identification purposes or at a higher depth (>30X) to get the whole genome.