The Jena Microbial Resource Collection (JMRC) is a joint collection of the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans-Knöll-Institute and the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The university was established in 1558 and is cou ...

. It was founded in October 2010 by merging two earlier collections from the two above-mentioned institutes. It is a research institution, which is not normally open to the public. With about 15,000

fungal A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; 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 one of the tradit ...

and about 35,000

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

l living isolates, it is the largest collection of this kind in Germany. The

microorganism A microorganism, or microbe, is an organism of microscopic scale, microscopic size, which may exist in its unicellular organism, single-celled form or as a Colony (biology)#Microbial colonies, colony of cells. The possible existence of unseen ...

s are maintained as active cultures, with some of them in

cryopreservation Cryopreservation or cryoconservation is a process where biological material - cells, tissues, or organs - are frozen to preserve the material for an extended period of time. At low temperatures (typically or using liquid nitrogen) any cell ...

Aim of the collection

The collection is aimed at the conservation of microbial resources for

natural product A natural product is a natural compound or substance produced by a living organism—that is, found in nature. In the broadest sense, natural products include any substance produced by life. Natural products can also be prepared by chemical s ...

screening. It is also aimed at research on pathogenicity mechanisms of fungal causative agents of a variety of

mycoses Fungal infection, also known as mycosis, is a disease caused by fungi. Different types are traditionally divided according to the part of the body affected: superficial, subcutaneous, and systemic. Superficial fungal infections include common ...

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...

s and

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

s. The head of the JMRC is Dr. Kerstin Voigt.

Examples of microbial species in the collection

* '' Lichtheimia corymbifera'', an ancient human pathogenic basal lineage fungus causing mucormycoses * ''

Conidiobolus coronatus ''Conidiobolus coronatus'' is a saprotrophic fungus, first described by Costantin in 1897 as ''Boudierella coronata''. Though this fungus has also been known by the name ''Entomophthora coronata'', the correct name is ''Conidiobolus coronatus''. ...

'', an ancient human pathogenic basal lineage fungus causing entomophthoramycoses * Parasitic

Mucorales The Mucorales is the largest and best-studied order of zygomycete fungi. Members of this order are sometimes called pin molds. The term mucormycosis is now preferred for infections caused by molds belonging to the order Mucorales. Systematic ...

such as '' Parasitella parasitica'' and their host organisms such as ''

Absidia glauca ''Absidia glauca'' is a species of fungus belonging to the family Cunninghamellaceae. It has cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, a cosmopolitan distribution is the range of a taxon that extends across most or all of the surface of ...

'' (also belonging to

) *

Mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures that certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal ...

s leading to

food spoilage Food spoilage is the process whereby food becomes unsuitable to ingest by a person; it is a matter of food safety. Bacteria and various fungi are the causes of spoilage, and can create serious consequences for consumers, but there are preventive ...

Plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

pathogen In biology, a pathogen (, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of"), in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a Germ theory of d ...

s such as '' Gilbertella persicaria'' * Various

Streptomyces ''Streptomyces'', from στρεπτός (''streptós''), meaning "twisted", and μύκης (''múkés''), meaning "fungus", is the largest genus of Actinomycetota, and the type genus of the family Streptomycetaceae. Over 700 species of ''St ...

* ''

Pseudomonas aeruginosa ''Pseudomonas aeruginosa'' is a common Bacterial capsule, encapsulated, Gram-negative bacteria, Gram-negative, Aerobic organism, aerobic–facultative anaerobe, facultatively anaerobic, Bacillus (shape), rod-shaped bacteria, bacterium that can c ...

'', a pathogenic bacterium * Various

Enterobacteriaceae Enterobacteriaceae is a large family (biology), family of Gram-negative bacteria. It includes over 30 genera and more than 100 species. Its classification above the level of Family (taxonomy), family is still a subject of debate, but one class ...

External links

Web page of JMRC at Hans Knöll Institute, Jena

Web page of JMRC at the Institute for Microbiology, University of Jena
University of Jena {{Microbiology-stub