The International Moss Stock Center (IMSC) is a

biorepository A biorepository is a facility that collects, catalogs, and stores samples of biological material for laboratory research. Biorepositories collect and manage specimens from animals, plants, and other living organisms. Biorepositories store many di ...

which is specialized in collecting, preserving and distributing

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...

plants Plants are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all curr ...

of a high value of scientific research. The IMSC is located at the Faculty of Biology, Department of Plant Biotechnology, at the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Germany.

Moss collection

The

collection of the IMSC currently includes various

ecotypes In evolutionary ecology, an ecotype,Greek: ''οίκος'' = home and ''τύπος'' = type, coined by Göte Turesson in 1922 sometimes called ecospecies, describes a genetically distinct geographic variety, population, or race within a specie ...

of ''

Physcomitrella patens ''Physcomitrium patens'', (synonym: ''Physcomitrella patens'' ) the spreading earthmoss, is a moss (bryophyte) used as a model organism for studies on plant evolution, development, and physiology. Distribution and ecology ''Physcomitrella pat ...

'', '' Physcomitrium'' and '' Funaria'' as well as several

transgenic A transgene is a gene that has been transferred naturally, or by any of a number of genetic engineering techniques, from one organism to another. The introduction of a transgene, in a process known as transgenesis, has the potential to change the ...

and

mutant In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It ...

lines of ''

'', including knockout mosses.

Storage conditions

The long-term storage of

samples in the IMSC is carried out via

cryopreservation Cryo-preservation or cryo-conservation is a process where Organism, organisms, organelles, cell (biology), cells, Biological tissue, tissues, extracellular matrix, Organ (anatomy), organs, or any other biological constructs susceptible to damage ...

in the gas phase of liquid

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

at temperatures below −135 °C in special freezer containers. It has been shown for ''

'' that the regeneration rate after

is 100%.Schulte, J., R. Reski (2004): High-throughput

of 140,000 ''

'' mutants. Plant Biology 6, 119-127

/ref> Accession number (bioinformatics), Trackable accession numbers which may be used for

citation A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose of ...

purposes in

publication To publish is to make content available to the general public.Berne Conve ...

s are automatically assigned to all samples.

Financial support

The IMSC is supported financially by the Chair

Plant Biotechnology Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

of Prof.

Ralf Reski Ralf Reski (born 18 November 1958 in Gelsenkirchen) is a German professor of plant biotechnology and former dean of the Faculty of Biology of the University of Freiburg. He is also affiliated to the French École supérieure de biotechnologie ...

and the Centre for Biological Signalling Studies (bioss).

References

External links

Website ''International Moss Stock Center (IMSC) Freiburg''Website ''Chair Plant Biotechnology, University of Freiburg''Website ''Centre for Biological Signalling Studies (bioss)''
{{authority control Botanical research institutes University of Freiburg Cryopreservation Biorepositories