Welcome!
Welcome to the
ARS Culture Collection (also known as the NRRL Collection)
website. The Collection is one of the largest public collections
of microorganisms in the world, currently containing approximately
95,000 strains of actinomycetes, bacteria, molds, and yeasts.
The collection is housed within the Microbial
Genomics and Bioprocessing Research Unit at the
National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research
in Peoria, Illinois.
This site provides information regarding
the public ("open") collection of strains, which
includes a searchable public access catalog for many of
the holdings of well characterized strains. The site also
provides information on the deposit and distribution of
strains maintained in the ARS Patent Culture Collection,
which is historically the first collection for strains related
to patent applications in the world. The holdings of the
patent strains, except for those that also serve as type
strains, are not searchable, but the website provides the
protocol for obtaining patent strains that are released
to the scientific public.
A number of important endangered collections,
including the Howard Dulmage collection of insecticidal
Bacillus strains, the International Streptomyces
Project (ISP) collection and the Jack Fell collection of
marine yeasts, have been accessioned into the ARS Culture
Collection and may be found in the online catalog. Several
other endangered collections, such as the U. S. Army Quartermaster
Collection of Fungi and the University of Wyoming Soil Fungi
Collection, are held here for safe-keeping but are not accessioned
into the ARS Culture Collection.
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