National Biological Resource Centers:
The principle and Roles for Microbiology Community

Ken-ichiro Suzuki
NITE Biological Resource Center
National Institute of Technology and Evaluation
Chiba Japan

Biological Resource
Centres (BRCs)
Underpinning the future oflife sciences and biotechnology

OECD 2001
08/02/2007

NBRC

Definition of BRC by OECD
Biological Resource Centres are an essential part of the infrastructure
underpinning biotechnology. They consist of service providers andrepositories of the living cells, genomes of organisms, and information
relating to heredity and the functions of biological systems. BRCs
contain collections of culturable organisms (e.g. microorganisms, plant,
animal and human cells), replicable parts of these (e.g. genomes,
plasmids, viruses, cDNAs), viable but not yet culturable organisms
cells and tissues, as well as data bases containing molecular,
physiological and structural information relevant to these collections
and related bioinformatics.
(Definition based on the one adopted at the 1999 Tokyo Workshop on Biological
Resource Centres, where the concept of BRCs as an outgrowth of conventional pregenomics ex situ collections of biological materials was developed – and incorporating
scientific developments since 1999.)

08/02/2007

NBRC

Biotechnology Strategy Guidelineof Japana Background of Establishment of Biological Resource Center
Biotechnology 戦略大綱 = BRC設立背景

2000
2002
2002

08/02/2007

1st Life Science Summit
The BT Strategy Council in the Cabinet
BT-Strategy Guidelines

NBRC

Outline of Biotechnology Strategy Guidelines
December, 2002

PART 1. Overview

Three strategies paving way to improvement of “Living”, “Eating”, and“Inhabiting”

Aggressive promotion of biotech strategy based on 50 action directives,
88 basic action plans and 200 detailed action plans

PART 2. Action Plan and Future Image

Section 1 Action Plan “Bio-Action Plan 2002” (1)Three strategies aimed at big advancement
Strategy 1: Massive realization of R&D
Always working to lead world’s research by one step
Strategy 2: Fundamental strengthening of industrialization process
Making industrialization process concrete to benefit all citizens with biotech
results
Strategy 3: Utmost pursuit of public understanding
System-making for allowing people to decide fairly and make sections
English translated by JBA
08/02/2007

NBRC

Strategy 1 Massive Enhancement of R&D (1)Promotion and support of scheme at universities, etc. aimed atincreased human resource supply and quality improvement throughinculcation of variegated biotech human resources.



Concentrated investment into medicine/pharmaceuticals,
microorganism/bioprocess, function food/agri-bio sectors.

Promotion of cooperation between biotech and other sectors suchas infotech and nanotech.



Focused investment into biopool, bioinformatics.



Improvement of biogenetic resources, these being the R&D
infrastructure, with resource-holding countries in a harmonized yet
strategic manner.
Promotion of clarification of relations between SNPs and cancer,
lifestyle diseases, triggering of senility, and SNPs’ and to clarify andtreatment agent reaction through large-scale patient sampling
aimed at realize tissue-engineering medicine, etc.
English translated by JBA

08/02/2007

NBRC

Strategy 1 Massive Enhancement of R&D (2)








Promotion of post-genomic research through measures on protein
structure/function analysis and on genomic analysis, etc. aimed atrealizing development of dramatically new drugs, etc. using biotech.
Promotion of functional analytical research on proprietary genomes
for dramatically new plant variety development, creation of hardly
rice crops resistant against adverse environment based on the ricegenome research results.
Promotion of development for technology which produces newenergy, etc. using biomass, etc., waste processing technology using
biotech, and technology for remediation of environment such asthat of soil and water purification and assessment technology as toharmful substances, etc.
Promote R&D as to establish production technology for dramaticallynew product using bioprocess and energy efficient production
system that has lower environmental load.
English version referred to JBA

08/02/2007

NBRC

NITE Biological Resource Center

Inaugurated in April 2002

Organization of NITE-DOB
Department of Biotechnology (DOB)

Genome Analysis Center (NGAC)
Biological Resource Center (NBRC)
Biotechnology Development Center (NBDC)
Patent Microorganisms Depositary (NPMD)
Tohoku Branch

08/02/2007

NBRC

The roles of three Centers of NITE-DOB
Genome Analysis Center:of the genomes of Aspergillus oryzae, Desulfovibrio
magneticus, Brevibacillus brevis, Rhodococcus erythropolis, etc.

• Analysis• Public release of the genomic data of these organisms on DOGAN

Biological Resource Center:• Collection, analysis and distribution of filamentous fungi, yeasts,
bacteria, archaea, actinomycetes, genes, cDNAs, etc.
• Release of the data for their general features & growth conditions.

Biotechnology Development Center:• Exploration of microbial genetic resources; development of theirclassification (novel & hard-to-grow microorganisms, etc.)• Collaboration with external institutes to stimulate uses microbial
materials

08/02/2007

NBRC

Microorganisms held in NBRC
Archaea

Bacteriophages

Actinomycetes

Bacteria

YeastsFilamentous
fungi

Total

35,750 strains■ Filamentous fungi 19,381 (54.2%)■ Yeasts
3,879 (10.9%)■ Bacteria
5,523 (15.4%)■ Actinomycetes
6,841 (19.1%)■ Archaea
58 (0.2%)■ Bacteriophages
68 (0.2%)（As of March 31, 2006）

08/02/2007

NBRC

Essential Functions of BRC:
Collection, Preservation and Supply of:1.

Reference organisms for quality control andstandardized tests
Needs of specification of strains by national or international
regulationsz

2.

Taxonomic type strains of prokaryotes (bacteria,
archaea) and yeasts
According to the Bacteriological Code of Nomenclature
Living culture of fungi derived from type according to the
Botanical Code

z
z

3.

Materials for research and developmentz

08/02/2007

Characteristic for BRC and the original country for screening
sources

NBRC

Reference Organism Supplierfor Quality Control

08/02/2007

NBRC

Top sales best 10 (21% of total sales)No.

NBRC No.

1

3972

2

13275

3

13276

4

1594

5

3134

6

12732

7

9455

8

3301

9

12708

10

3836

08/02/2007

Strain Name

Sales

Specific purpose

Escherichia coli
Test organism for Japan Drug Standards, antibacterial activity test
test

Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Test organism for Japan Drug Standards, antibacterial activity test
test

Staphylococcus aureus subsp.
subsp. aureus
Test organism for Japan Drug Standards, antibacterial activity test
test

Candida albicans

227
167
156
145

Reference strain for antifungal activity test

Bacillus subtilis subsp.
subsp. subtilis

144

Reference strain for antibacterial activity test

Staphylococcus aureus subsp.
subsp. aureus
Test organism for Japan Drug Standards, antibacterial activity test
test

Aspergillus niger

124
101

Reference strain for antifungal activity test

Escherichia coli

81

Host strain for DNA recombination

Kocuria rhizophila

59

Reference strain for drug resistance test

Bacillus cereus

56

Screening for oxytetracyclin

NBRC

NBRC Certified by ISO9001:2000

NITE Biological Resource Center

08/02/2007(December 2006)

NBRC

WFCC members with certification or accreditation
AGO - Arocrete Group Co., Taiwan
BIOCEN (BioCC) - Centro Nacional de Biopreparados, CubaCABI Genetic Resource Collection; UKCCCM – Czech Culture Collection of Microorganisms, Czech Republic
CCRC - Culture Collection and Research Center, FIRDI, Taiwan
CECT - Coleccion Espanola de Cultivos Tipo,

Spain

CIP - Collection de l´Institut Pasteur, France
DSMZ - Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen,

Germany
ECACC - European Collection of Cell Cultures, UK
ICLC - Interlab Cell Line Collection; Italy; GMP
IFM Quality Services Pty Ltd, Australia
IHEM – Insitute of Higiene and Epidemiology, Mycology, Belgium
LMBP – Plasmd collection, Belgium
LMG – University of Gent, Belgium
MUCL – Mycology, University Louvain la Neuve, Belgium
NCIMB - National Collection of Industrial, Food, Marine Bacteria, UK
NCPV - National Collection of Pathogenic Viruses, UK
NCTC - National Collection of Type Cultures, UK
From Dr. David Smith
NCYC - National Collection of Yeast Cultures, UK
08/02/2007

NBRC

Depository of
Taxonomic Type Strains

08/02/2007

NBRC

Taxonomic Type Strains of Prokaryotes
All type strains must be indicated at eachoccurrence in the text, tables and figures by asuperscript capital T (e.g. NBRC 13546T =IJSM
0819T). The Code requires the designation of a
type strain for a new type species andrecommends the deposition of a culture, the typestrain. Type strains of culturable species must be
deposited in at least two or more public culturecollections from two or more countries andaccession numbers must be provided. An extensive
listing of culture collections is available on line.
(Instruction to the authors, IJSEM)
08/02/2007

NBRC

The number of genera and species ofprokaryotes published validly
350
300
250
200

Genus
Species

150
100
50
0
1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001

08/02/2007

NBRC

J. P. Euzeby,
List ofBacterial
names withStanding in
Nomenclature(2004)

Supplier of Materials for
Research and Development

08/02/2007

NBRC

Enrichment of microbial resourcesin the BRCExploitation of hardly accessible sources
such as oversea resources
Development of cultivation techniques ofhard-to-grow microorganisms
Isolation of genes from hard-to-cultivate
microorganisms

08/02/2007

NBRC

Isolation of microbes
Plant, rhizosphere origin

Insect origin

Gel-microdrop
techniqueFilamentous
fungi, bacteria
actinomycetes

Culturables
Enculturable ofunculturables

Development of isolation techniques

08/02/2007

Analysis ofuseful functions

Exploitation of
useful functions

Gene-microbe
Library
Usefulgenes

Analysis ofdiversity

New methods ofphylogenetic analysis
Techniques of specific gene acquisition

Scheme of the acquisition and evaluation ofNovel microorganisms and their genes

NBRC

International Cooperative Program
between Culture Collections
A Case between National Center for Genetic
Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC) of
Thailandand
National Institute of Technology and Evaluation(NITE) of Japan

08/02/2007

NBRC

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU)
BIOTEC of Thailand
and
NITE of Japanon

Joint Program on the Conservation andSustainable Use of Biological
Resources
Signed on 18 February, 2005

08/02/2007

NBRC

Project Agreement 1
between
BIOTEC of Thailand
andNITE-DOB of Japan
concerninga Joint Project between BIOTEC
Culture Collection (BCC) and NITE
Biological Resource Center (NBRC)
Signed on 18 February, 2005

08/02/2007

NBRC

Objective
The Project aims at promoting transfer ofthe microorganisms kept at the BIOTEC
Culture Collection (BCC) and the NITE
Biological Resource Center (NBRC) in orderto promote conservation and sustainable
use of the biological resources in Japan and
Thailand in accordance with the Convention
on Biological Diversity.
08/02/2007

NBRC

Procedures
1. Microorganisms shall be listed in the
catalogues of Parties with the name of thecountry of origin attached. Parties may
distribute Microorganisms to a third party as
detailed in Article 4.
2. The distribution of Materials to a third party
shall be accompanied by Material Transfer
Agreement-1 or MTA-1, the format of which is
attached to this agreement.

08/02/2007

NBRC

Project Agreement 2
between
BIOTEC of Thailand
andNITE-DOB of Japan
concerninga Joint Project for Cooperative study of
microorganisms focus on taxonomy
and application between BIOTEC
Culture Collection (BCC) and NITE
Biological Resource Center (NBRC)
08/02/2007

NBRC

Objective
The Project aims at conducting collaborative
research on the characterization of
microorganisms kept at the BIOTEC Culture
Collection (BCC) and the NITE Biological
Resource Center (NBRC) in order to promoteconservation and sustainable use of thebiological resources in Japan and Thailand inaccordance with the Convention on
Biological Diversity.
08/02/2007

NBRC

Working Group Members
Sub-Project 1
Taxonomic study of acetic acid bacteria
isolates isolated from Thailand
Sub-Project 2
Study of saprophytic and endophytic
Xylariaceous fungi in Thailand
Sub-project 3
Taxonomy of yeasts isolated from naturalenvironment in Thailandinternational collaboration at BIOTEC, Thailand
08/02/2007

NBRC

Study of saprophytic and endophytic
Xylariaceous fungi in Thailand

Endophytic fungi
Expert from Japan side

08/02/2007

Saprophytic fungi
Expert from Thai side

NBRC

Cooperative researches to promote industrial
utilization of bioresources and their information
NBRC
Collection policy and strategy
Databases management
Supplying resources
Feed back

Cooperative studies
with industries and universities

Commercialization
08/02/2007

NBRC

Capacity building throughinternational cooperative researches

Isolation techniques

Taxonomy of microorganisms







Development and enrichment of microbial resources
Recognition of microbial diversity
Recognition of microbial diversity
Technology for traceability
Enrichment of information accompanying resources
Appropriate identification techniques for biosafety

Preservation techniques

Expansion of capacity of collection
Maintenance with quality
Management of resources

08/02/2007

NBRC

On-site workshops for laboratory workthrough cooperatove studies

At LIPI Indonesia in 2005

08/02/2007

NBRC

JICA Bioindustry Training Course

Organized by JBA

08/02/2007

NBRC

Domestic Network
among BRCs/CCs in Japan
Effective coverage of microbial
diversity Standardization
 Public acceptance Recommendation to policy
decision makers
 Enhancement of JSCC activities


08/02/2007

NBRC

World Federation for
Culture Collections
http://www.wfcc.info/
The WFCC is a Multidisciplinary Commission of the International
Union of Biological Societies (IUBS) and a Federation within theInternational Union of Microbiological Societies (IUMS).
The WFCC is concerned with the collection, authentication,
maintenance and distribution of cultures of microorganisms andcultured cells. Its aim is to promote and support the establishment of
culture collections and related services, to provide liaison and set up an
information network between the collections and their users, toorganize workshops and conferences, publications and newsletters andwork to ensure the long term perpetuation of important collections.
08/02/2007

NBRC

Asian Consortium for the Conservation and Sustainable Useof Microbial Resources (ACM)
Institute of Biology
Mongolian Academy of Sciences
Institute of Microbiology
Chinese Academy of Sciences
KRIBB-BRC

NBRC

Research Institute of Science

Vietnam National Univ.
Pathein Univ.

MARDI

BIOTEC
Ministry ofEnvironment

Univ. Philippines

LIPI

08/02/2007

NBRC

Aim of ACM• Framework for international cooperation to encourage
microbiological researches• Development of microbial resources characteristic foreach country• Construction of the mechanism for academia andindustry to utilize microbial resources• Establishment of BRC network• Establishment of international standards for biologicalmaterial transfer and benefit-sharing• Improvement and share of standardized techniques
08/02/2007

NBRC

The 1st ACM Meeting @Tsukuba

ACM was established at Tsukuba Meeting on 10th October, 2004

08/02/2007

NBRC

Profile and Activities of ACM
Member countries = 12
Cambodia, China, Indonesia,
Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia,
Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines,
Thailand, and Vietnam

Action plan
• Annual Meeting• Information exchange throughseminars and workshops• Promotion for public acceptance andsocial infrastructure

Organization
Chairperson:
Ms. Wanchern Potacharoen(BIOTEC, Thailand)
Vice-Chairs:
China (Next host),
Indonesia (Host after the next)
Secretariat:
NITE-DOB

08/02/2007

Task Forces
・Asian BRC Network TF
Chair: Ken-ichiro Suzuki(NBRC)
・Human Resource TF
Chair: Prof. Indrawati Gandjar(University of Indonesia)

NBRC

Construction of a Prototype of Common Databasefor the Network among Member BRCs
ACM Member Collections
IMCAS

BIOTEC

ACM
BIM

CombineKCTC

NBRCSecretariat

BRC
In eachCountry

Users

・・・
TFBRC
ACM

08/02/2007

MaintenanceOne-time search for all microbial
resources in ACM
Detailed information and consultation
are available from each collection

NBRC

CONCLUSION & PERSPECTIVE


BRCs are the depository and the supplier ofqualified materials with appropriate information.

Each BRC is expected to be the center of
excellence for the study of biodiversity andtaxonomy in the country.
 BRCs are also expected to be the authority toassign the control level and to transfer thematerials.
 Each BRC is an essential component with theirown originality and specialty in the national andinternational network.


08/02/2007

NBRC