MCM accepts deposit of microorganisms (archaea, bacteria andanaerobic fungi)belonging to Biosafety Level 1 and 2 categories, and DNA in the form of plasmids and whole metagenome librarieswhich are important for scientific and educational purposes. For microorganisms, each deposit is checked for purity, viability and identity, and then preserved for the long-termusing standard and organism-specific specialized methods. For DNA deposits, depositor-specified gene markers are partially sequenced to ascertain the authenticity of such deposits. MCM is currently accepting deposits under two categories: General or public-access Deposit and Safe or restricted Deposit.

Please contact the curator in-charge (mcm.services@aripune.org) in advance for more than 10 deposits at a time.

General Deposit (Public access)

• Cultures deposited under this category are listed in the open MCM catalogue and are accessible to public for academic and scientific research. A nominal one-time fee is charged for depositing cultures under this section given that most deposits maintained at MCM require specialized handling. Depositors from outside India may require clearance from appropriate authority in their home country. MCM reserves the right to reject a request for deposit of culture. Unidentified cultures are not accepted for deposit under this category, unless otherwise agreed upon based on separate MoUs.Once accepted and accessioned by MCM, a culture cannot be withdrawn from the collection.

Safe Deposit (Restricted Access)

• Cultures can be deposited under this category onlyafter an agreement has been signed by the depositor with MCM. Safe deposit cultures are neither listed in the MCM catalogue nor are accessible to anyone.These cultures can be accessed only by the depositor upon payment of required fee. Strict confidentiality and security are maintained in processing such cultures. There is a recurring annual fee for such deposits: Rs. 10,000/- for the first year and Rs. 5000/- per annumfor subsequent years.

1. Prospective depositor contacts MCM about the acceptability of the culture(s) before sending.
2. Once MCM agrees to accept the microorganism(s) the depositor sends the culture(s) along with the properly filled and signed Form for deposit and aduly signed Material Accession Agreement
3. Proper care should be taken in packing the cultures (slant or stab or plate) so that they are not damaged during transit. This is necessary to ensure safety of persons who may come in contact of the material. Culture tubes received in damaged condition are not processed by MCM.
4. Cultures are processed for checking viabilityand purity. Viability testing of archaeal and bacterial cultures is determined usually within two working days, and for anaerobic fungi usually between 7 days to 4 weeks.
5. If the culture is not pure or non-viable, the depositor is informed immediately.
6. Pure and viable cultures are taxonomically authenticated using molecular methodsand identified cultures are given an accession number by MCM and preserved.
7. A sample of the preserved culture will be sent to the depositor along with Depositor’s check Form to ensure that the microorganism preserved at MCM conforms to the original. The depositor confirms authenticity of the culture by submitting theduly signed Depositor’s check form to MCM at the earliest but no later than 30 days.
8. The certificate of availability with MCM accession number is issued by MCM to the depositor upon receipt of the duly signed Depositor’s check form or after 30 days, whichever is earlier.

• Submit deposit samples from official address (no private address).
• Pure microbial culture on Petri plate, slant or stab with completed form for deposit, proof of payment and duly signed MAA.
• Prompt return of the duly signed Depositor’s check form.

Fast growing microorganisms with no special growth requirements usually take 20-25 working days to complete the authentication and cryopreservation processes. However, it may take longer for slow growing microorganisms. The certificate of deposit is issued day after receiving duly signed Depositor’s check form.

MCM is currently supplying authenticated cultures of archaea, bacteria and anaerobic fungi for teaching and research purposes. Cultures accessioned at MCM have their own accession numbers that may or may not have equivalent(s) in other culture collection(s). Equivalent cultures may not be identical to the original ones because genetic drift may occur.MCM supplies authenticated microorganisms either as actively growing cultures in agar stabs or broth in serum bottles, or as lyophilized vials (freeze dried ampoules). Cultures are sent by speed post/ courier only after the receipt of the payment.

1. Recipient searches for the desired microorganism(s)in our online catalog. For certain microorganisms, special rates are applicable and these will be reflected in our online catalog.
2. If available, recipient fills the form for purchase of culture(s) clearly mentioning the name and MCM accession number of the microorganism(s), includes official address and duly signs the form.
   1. Students/project assistants/research associates should get their request for cultures endorsed by guide/principal investigator or by Head of the Department.
   2. Access to MCM cultures by foreign nationals or investigators working outside India is governed by the rules of the Biodiversity Act and the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), Government of India. Such requests must therefore be accompanied by appropriate approval from NBA.
   3. A request for cultures from outside India must include an import permit for the procurement along with the approval of NBA. Such a request may need clearance from the appropriate authority in India (HMSC) before cultures can be sent.
3. Recipient duly signs two copies of the Material Transfer Agreement
4. Recipient makes the online payment and includes the proof of payment with the form and submits a hard copy to MCM.
5. One copy of the MTA signed by MCM along with the culturewill be dispatched by registered mail within two weeks after receiving a request.

• Send duly filled form withofficial address along with proof of payment and two copies of signed MTA.
• In case of any concerns related to the purity, authenticity or viability of cultures, recipient must communicate the same to MCM within 30 days from the date of receipt. MCM will not entertain any requests beyond this time frame.

1. Supplied material is for the sole use of the recipient and it will not be passed to others under any circumstances.
2. MCM does not grant license, expressed or implied, for any commercial use of cultures received from it. Recipient of MCM culture(s) is responsible for ensuring that the rights of the depositor are not violated by use of such culture(s).
3. All cultures should be handled carefully while taking utmostcare and established safety precautions.
4. Cultures should be revived /subcultured on recommended medium and conditions soon after receiving them.
5. Viability, purity and authenticity of supplied cultures are carefully examined by MCM staff. Complaints about the cultures will not be entertained after one month of dispatch from MCM.
6. MCM checks taxonomic authenticity (and markers of genetic stocks) of the cultures but not the other associated properties (like production of metabolites, degradation of specific compounds etc.). These properties were mentioned by the depositor of the culture(s). MCM does not guarantee that these properties are retained by the culture(s).
7. MCM is not responsible explicit or implicit, for misuse or improper handling of cultures received from MCM.
8. By accepting cultures from MCM it is implied that the recipient agrees to the terms and conditions of supply.

For active cultures, 07-20 working days depending on incubation time required for growth of the culture(s). For freeze dried ampoules, 3 to 4 working days. In case the ampoules are not in stock, the timeline will extend by another 7-20 working days.

All identification and/or characterization services are carried out using scientifically validated protocols while following internationally accepted guidelines. New services continue to be launched from time-to-time. Our current services include:

Identification by rRNA Gene Sequencing (both partial and complete) Read more>>>

MCM offers service for identifying bacteria and archaea using rRNA gene sequencing and for anaerobic fungi using ITS sequencing or other universal primers.The whole process involves DNA isolation, PCR, post-PCR purification, cycle sequencingPCR followed by cleanup and automated sequencing. Quality checks at each step ensure high success rate. Sequence raw data is manually checked and only quality sequence data is used for curated databasesearch to assign the identity.

Being a microbial repository, ascertaining the most accurate taxonomic identity is at priority. Hence, we use EzBioCloud results for bacteria and archaea, and UNITE or NCBI-BLASTn result for anaerobic fungi. The service usually takes 10-15 working days.

Raw sequence data in ab1 format is required from the user. Sequence quality checks are carried out followed by trimming, contig preparation, obtaining closely related sequences from database and multiple sequence alignment, which is also manually checked for accuracy. Phylogenetic analysis is performed with bootstrapping either by user-specified algorithm or Neighbor-Joining / Maximum parsimony method based on the requirement. The service usually takes 4-5 working days.

MALDI-TOF MS (Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry) is a rapid and cost-effective method of microbial identification, especially in clinical settings for high-throughput routine analyses. The user submitted fresh and pure microbial cultures is processed for protein extraction followed by a comparison of the protein profiles on the Bruker biotyper database. Result showing ≥1.7 log value with strain in database is confirmed as member of that genus and ≥2.0 log values is confirmed as the member of that species. The service usually takes 4-5 working days.

BIOLOG is a unique automated system of identification based on substrate utilization patterns of microorganisms or communities. The service requires a pure culture of microorganism (for Gram‐negative and Gram‐positivemicroorganisms using GEN III plates and for anaerobes usingAN plates) or a freshly collected environmental sample (for EcoPlates™). Upon incubation, thesystem generated “metabolic fingerprint” report can be used for microbial identification or for observing patterns (similarity comparison) between communities. Analysis of various environmental samples using EcoPlates™ on BIOLOG is also referred to ascommunity-level physiological profile (CLPP).Normally it takes about 10 working days to complete these tests. However, for slow growing organisms it may take longer.

Morphological Identification of Anaerobic Fungi

• Pure microbial culture (preferably streaked for single colonies) on Petri plates (or broth cultures in special cases), with completed form and proof of payment.
• Visibly pure cultures, discovered to be contaminated upon analysis will NOT be repeated.
• Also, the correctness of the type of organism (archaea orbacteria, aerobic or anaerobic, or anaerobic fungi) is users’ responsibility since this information will decide the type of analysis. Accordingly, MCM will NOT repeat any samples due to this user-error.
• Any discrepancy in results must be reported within 3 working days to MCM.

• Reports containing results are usually sent online or by hard copy in rare cases.

MCM has specialized expertise in the field of anaerobic microbiology and bioenergy and provides numerous analytical services. These include biomethane potentialdetermination, fibre analysis (hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin content), analysis of wine, total organic carbon (TOC), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TN), gas composition, volatile fatty acid (VFA), organic acid, sugar analysis and other physio-chemical analysis of samples. Please connect with Curator in-charge for any further information on any of these services.

MCM hosts regular short-term training courses, workshops, and seminars in the areas of anaerobic and aerobic microbial diversity, microbial taxonomy and microbial ecology and bioenergy. For long-term training please connect with the Curator in-charge.

With a host of experts in diverse fields of anaerobic microbiology, bioenergy, systematics and ecology, our researchers actively consult industries and academicians solving real-world problems. For your specific requirements please visit ARI website or connect with the Curator in-charge.