Diatom Culture Collection
General
The PAE lab maintains an extensive diatom culture collection, which was initiated in 2000 and developed by Dr. V. Chepurnov (former PAE member). The collection currently consists of 175 strains belonging to 7 genera. All strains are living monoclonal cultures grown in liquid culture media (WC medium for freshwater diatoms, f/2 for marine, see Mann DG & Chepurnov VA, 2004, Nova Hedwigia 79:237-291). 62 of these strains are also cryopreserved. The selection of strains for the culture collection is based on their ease of use for experimental manipulation. As most diatoms have an obligatory sexual stage in their life cycle, knowledge of the life-cycle is vital for the long-term maintenance of diatom cultures. Therefore, information on mating system, cardinal points in the life cycle and valve measurements is present for each of the strains, making the PAE diatom culture collection unique in its kind. The purpose of the diatom culture collection is to make diatom strains available for both academic and industrial partners to conduct fundamental and applied research. As such, the strains/taxa are or have been intensively used in the PAE lab and elsewhere for diatom genomics research, cell-and life-cycle investigations, studies of ecological interactions and research on the population genetics, evolution and diversity of diatoms. All strains, together with relevant strain information, are available upon request. Please contact Pieter Vanormelingen or Wim Vyverman for more information. .