February 2006
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13 Citations
Phycological Research
The Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa (CCAP) and the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) act as service collections in the UK and Japan, respectively. Since 1991, the collections have collaborated on a wide range of topics of mutual interest. These include: algal taxonomy, bio-informatics, collection management, conservation of microbial biodiversity, cryopreservation, and cyanobacterial toxin research. The main activities have focused on the re-examination of cyanobacterial isolates housed in both collections and cryopreservation research. The preliminary data generated in the survey of cyanobacterial strains were used in the production of the latest CCAP catalogue and database. This project is ongoing at NIES and forms a key component of a major project on cyanobacterial taxonomy. To date, many protists are apparently freeze-recalci-trant. A primary mode of lethal cell injury is the formation of intracellular ice. In this study, intracellular ice formation was observed in Tetraselmis suecica (Ky-lin) Butcher under suboptimal cooling conditions, Tetraselmis chui Butcher under both fast and slow cooling and in both pigmented and achlorophylous strains of Euglena gracilis Klebs. These findings have significant implications for the development of successful cryopreservation strategies. In addition to the above activities, a variety of algal strains have been examined in taxonomic and ultra-structure research projects and cyanobacterial cultures have been screened for novel toxins.