微生物保存機関巡り（23）Korean Agricultural Culture Collection(KACC): Maintaining Agriculture & Food
Microorganisms in Korea
The Korean Agricultural Culture Collection(KACC) is a national microbial bank for utilization
and application of indigenous microorganisms inKorea (Fig. 1). KACC was established within theNational Academy of Agricultural Science in 1995,
with the missions of (1) collection and conservationof agricultural and food microbial resources, (2) services on distribution, identification, preservation,
training and consultation for microbial society, and(3) research on taxonomy and preservation of microorganisms.
KACC has collected a variety of microorganisms
including bacteria, actinomycetes, yeasts, filamentous fungi and mushrooms with the help of Korean
microbial researchers and foreign culture collections
such as CBS, DSMZ and NBRC. KACC is holding
22,455 strains of microorganisms, and their information is open to the public through RDA Genebank’s
website (http://www.genebank.go.kr/eng/microbe/gene_info.jsp). KACC provides more than 3,000 cultures every year to scientific communities home andabroad. KACC also conducts taxonomic and ecological studies on microorganisms to enhance the quality of microorganisms kept in KACC and better
understand the microbial diversity in the environment. KACC is an authorized center organization
for maintenance of microbial genetic resources by
the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairsof Korea, and also a domestic patent depository designated by the Korean Intellectual Property Office.
For the international cooperation, KACC partici-pates in the World Federations for Culture
Collection (WFCC) and Asian Consortium for theConservation and Sustainable Use of MicrobialResources (ACM) activities. In 2009, KACC acquiredISO 9001 certificate for adhering to quality standards in handling procedures of microorganisms
kept in KACC. On the basis of the ISO 9001 certification, KACC could provide high-quality microorganisms to the public.
Holding Microorganisms
As of 2013, KACC is keeping 22,455 strains representing 6,971 species including bacteria, actinomycetes, yeast, filamentaous fungi and mushrooms.
Most of the microbial strains were isolated from various environments such as plants, fermented foods,soils, and others in Korea. Some strains - mainly
type strains, were obtained from foreign culture collections. In case of bacteria, KACC is holding 8,440
strains representing 4,198 species. Main genera ofbacteria are Bacillus, Lactobacillus, Pseudomonas,and others. In case of fungi, 13,068 fungal strains
representing 2,773 species are kept at KACC. Main
genera of molds are Aspergillus and Penicillium forindustry, and Phytophthora, Colletotrichum, andFusarium for plant pathogens. KACC also maintains
a lot of mushrooms from both wild and cultivatedvarieties. KACC had added 1,306 strains of microorganism in 2013 and the number of holding microorganisms is steeply increasing. KACC is one of thefastest growing culture collections in Asia.
Additionally, KACC also holds more than 1,200 patent strains.
Preservation of Microorganisms
For the safe preservation of microorganisms,
KACC adopts various preservation methods. For
bacteria and sporulating fungi, KACC uses lyophilization and freezing in liquid nitrogen (LN2) tank anddeep freezer. For non-sporulating fungi KACC use
freezing in LN2 tank and deep freezer and mineralFig. 1 Korean Agricultural Culture
Collection (KACC) based at the National
Agrobiodiversity Center in Suwon, SouthKorea
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is maintained by at least three different methods. Atleast one of these is by lyophilization or storage inliquid nitrogen. For liquid nitrogen storage inKACC, glass capillary tube for bacteria and 4 mm
polypropylene straw for fungi are used instead of 2
ml cryotube (Fig. 2). These methods are very economic to preserve microorganisms through freezingin LN2 tank.
KACC Database
The KACC constructed an internet-based information system or database to manage the strains’dataand promote the microbial strains. It includes not
only simple text information on individual microbe,
but also images of morphology and DNA sequence
data. The database consists of two main parts; oneis to manage microbial information such as scientificname, strain data, image of morphology, DNA
sequence of taxonomic genes, literature, and media.
The other part was developed to contain the process on managing microbes such as introduction,preservation, and distribution of microorganisms.
The data bank is constantly updated and always
reflects the current status of the collection. The
URL of KACC homepage is http://www.genebank.
go.kr. The homepage also provides information ont h e‘L i s t o f P l a n t D i s e a s e s i n K o r e a’, which
describes all Korean pathogens and their hostplants.
Order and Deposit of Strains
The microbial resources on earth are the propertyof all humankind, and their maintenance and preser-Fig. 2 Liquid nitrogen (LN2) storage in
KACC. A. Liquid nitrogen tanks in
KACC, B. Polypropylene straws used forfungal preservation. Nine straws of one
strain can be put in one hole for 2 ml
cryotube. C. Glass capillary used for bacterial preservation. Four glass capillaries
can be put in one straw, and three straws
can be put in a 2 ml cryotube, and thenthe cryotubes are put into cane andstored in vapor phase of nitrogen tank.

vation are with no doubt of critical value for all ofus. KACC provides and accepts research resources
covering various biological materials including bacteria, actinomycetes, yeasts, filamentous fungi andmushrooms.
Cultures present on the KACC website or listed
in the KACC catalogue are provided to researcherswith facilities suitable for handling living microorganisms. The KACC provides the cultures to overseas researchers free of charge but on an exchangebasis.
If you wish to deposit microorganisms to KACC,
please contact KACC and give a brief description of
the strain prior to sending. When KACC finds thedeposit acceptable, the depositor is requested tosend the culture with the complete KACC
'Accession Form'. A KACC number will be assigned
to the organism after the culture is verified, and thedepositor will be informed accordingly.
Contact Information
Name: K orean Agricultural Culture Collection(KACC)
Address: National Agrobiodiversity Center, 88-20
Seodundong Kwonseonku, Suwon,
Republic of KOREA, 441-853
Tel: +82-31-299-1839, Fax: +82-31-299-1869
E-mail: kacc@korea.kr
Homepage: http://www.genebank.go.kr
For depositing bacterial strain: swkwon@korea.kr
For depositing fungal strain: funguy@korea.kr

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