Collection of living diatom cultures of Limnological Institute: Trends and use potential

Abstract

Microalgae culture collections enable the practical use of the products of their metabolism and provide an overview of the morphological, genetic and physiological diversity known in nature. However, despite the fact that diatoms are a unique object, a little number of species is maintained in culture in world collections compared to their huge diversity. The Department of Cell Ultrastructure of the Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LIN SB RAS) has created a collection of monoclonal cultures of diatoms isolated from different regions of Lake Baikal and other water bodies. Currently, the collection is represented by 144 strains of planktonic and benthic diatoms belonging to 20 species. Regularly reseeded cultures are used to solve a number of problems related to ecology, taxonomy, cell biology, molecular genetic research, as well as for use in biotechnology.