The International Collection of Microorganisms from Plants (ICMP) is a major international culture collection of live

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometr ...

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

, and

chromist Chromista is a biological kingdom consisting of single-celled and multicellular eukaryotic species that share similar features in their photosynthetic organelles ( plastids). It includes all protists whose plastids contain chlorophyll ''c'', s ...

s based in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, New Zealand. The ICMP had its origin in 1952 as the personal collection of plant pathogenic bacteria and rhizobia of Dr Douglas W. Dye. It expanded as the culture collection (PDDCC) of Plant Diseases Division, and later Plant Protection Division, of the New Zealand

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR was the name of several British Empire organisations founded after the 1923 Imperial Conference to foster intra-Empire trade and development. * Department of Scientific and Industria ...

(DSIR). Following the reorganization of science in New Zealand in 1992, the collection was transferred to

Landcare Research Landcare may refer to: * Australian Landcare Council, a now superseded Australian government body * Landcare in Australia, umbrella approach promoting land protection in Australia * Landcare Research, New Zealand *The Landcare movement in Australi ...

, one of eight New Zealand Government-owned "

Crown Research Institutes In New Zealand, Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) are corporatised Crown entities charged with conducting scientific research. Crown Research Institutes date from 1992, with most formed out of parts of the former Department of Scientific and Indu ...

", as a Nationally Significant Collection and Database. The collection has a strong focus on globally sourced plant pathogens, and fungi of New Zealand and the South Pacific, voucher cultures validate the presence of many plant diseases recorded in New Zealand. The over 22,000 strains are roughly evenly split between bacteria and fungi/yeasts, including 900 type and pathotype cultures. In 1993, preservation using liquid nitrogen was introduced for fungal and bacterial strains which had been difficult to maintain by vacuum drying; this has since been used for all new accessions. Printed catalogues of strains were published between 1978 and 1999, but have been replaced by an online database updated daily.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/icmp
ICMP database of strains

Dataset on GBIF
Culture collections Research in New Zealand