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* MICROBIAL GERMPLASM DATA NET *
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* VOL 2 NO 2 *
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IN THIS ISSUE
MGDN REPORTS
>MGD GOES ON LINE FOR TESTING........2
>AGROBACTERIUM ANTIBODIES AVAILABLE..3
NATIONAL OUTLOOK
>WORKSHOP ON VIRUS TERMINOLOGY.......4
>NSF REPORT ON BIODIVERSITY..........5
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
>COSTA RICA MAKES MAJOR MOVE
CATALOGING SPECIES.................7
COMPUTERS AND DATABASES
>COMPUTER VIRUS PROTECTION...........8
>MANAGING YOUR COLLECTION WITH
CHEAP SOFTWARE....................9
>ACCESSING JAPAN'S DATABASES........10
NEWS BRIEFS AND NEW PRODUCTS
********
The MGDN is published quarterly by the Microbial
Germplasm Database and is a publication serving
the needs and interests of researchers who maintain
research oriented 'working' culture collections.
You may be placed on the mailing list for the hard
copy version of this newsletter by contacting
Prof. Larry Moore
Dept of Botany and Plant
Pathology, Oregon State University,
Corvallis, OR 97331-2902, USA.
Comments regarding the electronic edition of the
newsletter or requests to be placed on the e-mail
list for future mailings should be addressed to
Joe Hanus at the above address or:
hanusj@bionette.cgrb.orst.edu on internet
hanusj@orstvm on bitnet
------------------
| MGDN REPORTS |
|__________________|
MGD GOES ONLINE
Another milestone toward the implementation of a computerized
database and network for inventorying the microbial and
subcellular germplasm held in US research laboratories was
reached in October. At that time, a limited test version of the
Microbial Germplasm Database was successfully placed online.
This prototype of the database which contains information from
the *Microbial Germplasm Database, Catalog of Culture
Collections*, is accessible from any computer that is connected
to the widely dispersed NSFnet backbone that traverses the United
States. This includes virtually every campus in the United
States and many private computers. Furthermore, the database can
easily be reached from many countries throughout the world and
from Bitnet nodes that support the telnet protocol.
The computer system, supported by the Center for Gene Research
and the Biological Computing Consortium at Oregon State
University, consists of an AT&T 3b computer with 1.2 gigabytes of
disk storage. This facility can be reached through OSU's
campus-wide ethernet backbone from either NSFnet or by telephone
modem through the campus dial-in port.
Though a password is now required for entry, and the system is
still somewhat "bare-bones" we are looking toward having public
access available by the first of the year.
To launch a search for culture collections likely to have
organisms in which you are interested, first connect to the MGD
computer. This can be carried out remotely from computers on
your campus using your PC as a terminal or by telephone modem
from any location. After reaching the Microbial Germplasm
Database you will see a fill-in-the-blank form on your screen.
You can enter as much or as little information as you choose, to
specify the nature, location or content of the collections that
you are searching for. You can use '*' and '?' as wild card
characters to specify any number of any character or a single
instance of any character, respectively. Obviously the less
specific your query the more culture collections will fall within
the boundaries you specify.
Suppose you are trying to find someone in the west specializing
in fungi affecting grapes. Include *GRAPE* in the RESEARCH INTEREST field
and 9???? in the ZIP CODE field. This search will present a list of
collections that meet your original specifications. Should there
be only one collection satisfying your criteria, you could print
your screen to save the information. However, should there be
many collections in the list, you will want a more efficient
means to download this information to your computer. We are now
writing easy-to-use scripts that will allow you to store the list
of collections in a file and to move the file to your home
computer. There, you can use your word processor to manage the
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file.
The entire process will be menu driven and will require virtually
no computer expertise. You will be able to receive help at any
field, with one or two keystrokes, telling you the nature of
information in the field and appropriate choices for input on the
form. (You'll also be able to leave a message to the system
administrator at any point in the query sequence so that you can
provide almost immediate feedback on how you think the system
could be changed to better fit your needs.
***
CULTURE EXCHANGE
When a project is terminated or a researcher leaves a laboratory,
characterized cultures are often dumped because it is no longer
feasible economically to maintain them. The information about
those cultures has typically been gleaned through months of
arduous benchwork and represents a considerable investment.
These cultures may be an excellent starting point for a project
in another laboratory or could make a valuable addition to
someone else's collection. Instead of autoclaving these
organisms, try to place them with a good home with the help of
MGDN. We can put a note in the newsletter (see the note
regarding Dr. Jo Handlesman's monoclonals in this issue) to
attempt to help locate other scientists who can utilize the
effort that has been invested in this germplasm.
Conversely, if you need an organism or group of strains in your
work, let MGDN help you locate the appropriate strains. Please
keep your requests modest to insure that you are not intrusive on
your colleagues time.
The Microbial Germplasm Database has been formulated to foster
cooperation and exchange of germplasm and information. Let us
know of other ways in which the organization can best serve you.
***
MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES AVAILABLE FOR AGROBACTERIUM
Dr. Jo Handlesman (University of Wisconsin-Madison) has a set of
monoclonal antibodies specific for Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58.
(Current Microbiology (1990) 21:181-185). If your laboratory
would be interested in maintaining these hybridomas, write to
Dr. Jo Handlesman
Department of Plant Pathology,
1630 Linden Dr.
Madison WI 53706
***
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------------------------
| NATIONAL OUTLOOK |
|________________________|
ATCC HOSTS WORKSHOP ON TERMINOLOGY OF
VIRUS CHARACTERISTICS*
A panel of experts from eight countries representing service
culture collections, research virologists and biological database
managers participated in a workshop hosted by American Type
Culture Collection (ATCC) in Rockville MD. The workshop goal was
to develop recommendations for standardization of terminology for
description of virus characteristics. Several model systems were
examined including the RKC code of Rugosa, Krichevski and
Colwell, the VIDE (Virus Identification Data Exchange) Project of
Gibbs and Boswell (Australian National University, Canberra,
Australia), The Animal Virus Database, of Ashok Kolaskar
(University of Poona, Pune, India) and the ICTV (International
Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses) Code for the Description of
Virus Characteristics.
Virologists working with animal, plant, or microbial viruses tend
to develop systems of discriptors of viral characteristics suited
to their own needs. This classification is often based on the
host and its characteristics rather than on the characteristics
of the virus itself. Though frequently the type of information
used in the taxonomy of plant, vertebrate and insect viruses
overlaps there is little standardization of terminology.
Since computers, both through large biological databases and in
the laboratory environment, provide a tool for the collection of
large amounts of descriptive data, it is imperative that this
data be available in some standardized format and that the
standardization reflect the needs of the users of this data. The
workshop was an effort to bring together researchers and
dispensers of virus information (biological databases) to arrive
at a plan to propose to the ICTV which met at the International
Congress of Virology in Berlin this summer.
The plan recommended establishment of an oversight body of ICTV
members together with representatives of microbiological,
phytopathological, and virology societies, culture collections,
CODATA (Committee on Data for Science and Technology) and
international scientific organizations. A smaller working group
could then integrate the existing schemes.
The projected outcome of this workshop could be the formulation
of an accepted list of descriptors for viruses that will become a
standard for database usage as well as research documentation.
*excerpted from a report of this workshop which was attended
by Microbial Germplasm Database representatives.
<4>
NSB RECOMMENDS NSF TAKE ACTION ON
LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY
The importance to research and the economic value of
the richness of germplasm present in research culture
collections has been forefront in the vision of those
who have striven to implement the Microbial Germplasm
Database. MGD's role in cataloging and advocating preser-
vation of microbial and subcellular germplasm assumes
increasing relevance, in light of the seriousness in
which the National Science Board views the loss of
biodiversity. The following material was excerpted from
the NSB report.
The National Science Board, the advisory group for the National
Science Foundation, has recently published recommendations to
advise NSF that it should deeply involve itself in support of
activities that preserve biodiversity. The NSB Committee headed,
by Dr Craig Black, and comprised of a panel of internationally
respected scientists, sees the eminent rapid loss of species and
genetic diversity within species as a major concern to
scientists, economists and social scientists.
The report states that "there is an ongoing, unprecedented loss
of variety as well as absolute numbers of organisms--from the
smallest microorganism to the largest and most spectacular of
mammals". We are directly affected because "human prosperity is
based very largely on the ability to utilize biological diversity
to take advantage of the properties of plants, animals, fungi,
and microorganisms."
There are great gaps in scientific knowledge about the earth's
biodiversity and this lack of information hampers society's
ability to estimate the magnitude of the problem or to
effectively design a solution to it. 1.4 million species have
been given scientific names but the total numbers of species on
earth range to 80 million according to estimates (though this
number is probably not known to the nearest order of magnitude) .
The current escalation of species loss is wiping out both known
and unknown biotic groups. Estimates of loss rate indicate that
unless current trends are reversed, 25-50% of the species will be
wiped out in the next 30 years.
Habitat destruction which may be directly related to population
pressure is cited as the chief cause of loss of biodiversity.
Over half the earth's species are found in tropical rain forests.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization estimated 10 years ago
that these rain forest were being destroyed at 100 acres/3 min.
That rate is now 100 acres/min. Almost 35% of all rare and
endangered species in the US are located in or dependent on
wetlands. Wetlands are being converted to other uses at the rate
of 275,000 acres year. Marine ecosystem, often pictured as too
<5>
immense and stable to be significantly altered by pollution, are
being subjected to eutrophication and resulting oxygen depletion
in many estuarine environments. These estuaries are nurseries
for marine species and for denitrifying terrestrial runoff.
Microorganisms, and related subcellular entities have been the
basis for many scientific advances in molecular biology and
pharmaceuticals ( the Actinomycetes alone have been the source of
3000 antibiotics since 1950). The prospects for microorganisms
solving many agricultural, medical and environmental problems is
vastly enhanced by progress in genetic engineering. However,
microbiology is poorly known from the standpoint of species
diversity and systematics. Microorganisms constitute "biological
bridges between trophic levels, between abiotic and biotic
factors, and between the biogeosphere and the gaseous atmospheric
constituents". For example, mychorrhizal hyphae mediate
interactions in plant communities by transferring nutrients
between plant species. Microorganisms are also an important
source of "greenhouse gases" that profoundly affect climate but
little is known about that aspect of ecology. The lack of
knowledge about microbial ecology and microbial species diversity
is seen as a result of meager funding for these areas and for
microbial systematics.
Among the NSB Task Force's recommendations are that NSF become a
leader in the inventory of the worlds biodiversity and that this
support be expanded within the Division of Biological Systems and
Resources, with initial funding of $5 million dollars annually,
expanding to $20,000,000. They go farther to say that microbial
systematics and ecology should receive $8 million climbing to $20
million. Comparable sums are recommended for information
management, eg. data banks and Geographic Information Systems to
handle the information generated by the global inventory of
diversity.
The report concludes that "the loss of biodiversity threatens
both scientific understanding and human prosperity" and that
"diversity of species is the heart of biological research."
To obtain a copy of the NSB report see the LITERATURE
section on page 6 of this Newsletter.
***
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--------------------------------
| INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE |
|________________________________|
COSTA RICA MAKES MAJOR MOVE
CATALOGING BIODIVERSITY
Estimates are that 5-7% of the worlds biological diversity is
contained in this West Virginia-sized country. Costa Rica plans
to capitalize on this richness of species by first cataloging and
preserving it and then making it available to biochemists,
agricultural scientists and other researchers who are searching
for new crops, natural pesticides and pharmaceuticals.
Twenty-seven per cent of the country has been set aside as parks
and preserves including strictly protected zones where local
people may live and use natural resources.
The Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad de Costa Rica (INBio) is
headed by Rodrigo Gamez, a plant virologist from the University of
Costa Rica who recently served as an advisor to former president
Oscar Arias. By 1992, Gamez says INBio's efforts will culminate
in the launching of Costa Rica's complete biological inventory,
which will be one of the first such inventories in the world.
Gamez doesn't seem worried about the $50 million needed to
initiate the effort or the $20 million endowment needed to
continue the project during the ten-year inventory. Private
foundations and USAID have been heavy contributors.
According to Peter H. Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical
Garden (which along with the British Museum has signed a formal
agreement of collaboration with INBio) only 40,000 tropical
species have been described. In the next ten years INBio expects
to catalog 500,000 to a million species; several fold more than
have been described for all other tropical countries combined.
INBio has begun by organizing all of its natural history
collections into a computerized database. The database contains
information not only on the species themselves, but also on
ecosystems throughout Costa Rica. The database also contains a
complete up-to-date record of all biological research that has
been conducted in the country. Thus a plant physiologist
launching a database search of seed protein in the dry forest
tree, Hymenaea coubaril will retrieve not only information on the
physiology of the organism, but also on the the animal which is
the primary means of seed dispersal (the agouti), and seed
predators such as weevils. INBio will be one of the world's
first institutions of this size to have its natural history
collections computerized.
Costa Rica has only about ten professional taxonomists. Through
USAID grants, high school students, farmers, ranchers, and other
non-professionals are being trained as parataxonomists. INBio
hopes to bring 100-200 of these parataxonomists into the program
to collect, prepare, label and classify to whatever level they
can. International experts will then be brought in to complete
<7>
the identification. Gamez believes by bringing experts in rather
than sending the collections out, his country will profit more
from the training and possible long term collaboration.
[summarized from Tangley, L. 1990. Bioscience,40:633-636.]
***
---------------------------------
| COMPUTERS AND DATABASES |
|_________________________________|
COMPUTER VIRUS: LATENT CALAMITY FOR
COLLECTION DATA
As new genetic techniques produce more different strains and
isolates of organisms our research collections have grown to
contain many more cultures. The need to organize this data and
to be able to locate quickly strains with unique combinations of
metabolic and genetic characteristics has impelled many
researchers to move their data out of lab notebooks and onto
computers. The simplicity of use of newer database programs and
the speed and efficiency of update and retrieval have overcome
initial "computerphobia". Reliance on electronic data storage
has made us vulnerable to a new set of perils, however;
mechanical and electronic failure and the computer virus.
A computer virus is a small program that attaches itself to one
of the normal resident programs in your computers memory or on
your disk. It doesn't run until that program is run. Often the
program is one of the system programs that is run each time you
turn on the computer. Sometimes a unique set of conditions must
be met. The virus program may check your system clock and
manifest itself only at a predefined date (the Friday the 13th
Virus). Some viruses only cause the computer to display a
message that you have been invaded or plays a tune. More recent
epidemics appear to have the touch of sophisticated programmers
and are designed to disable the system, and erase or corrupt the
data stored on the harddisk.
John McAfee, Chairman of the Computer Virus Industry Association,
and author of numerous antivirus programs, suggests a three
pronged program of awareness and action.
1. Know your computer and your system and its normal mode
of action. Computers are nothing if not predictable in their
action. Anything out of the ordinary is suspect; slow response,
system crashes, or a file that appears to grow in size for no
reason.
2. Be very careful about the software you share. Viruses
can only come in from outside sources. Obtain software only from
known reputable sources. Pirated and questionable free programs
are most often the source of a catastrophic infection. Consider
<8>
any computer that is not your own as a suspect machine. A rogue
programmer can rent a machine in a public copy shop or library,
deposit the virus, and leave. That machine will stamp the virus
on each disk that passes through.
3. Use some sort of scanning software to regularly check
your system and your disks for the presence of a virus. There
are many good ones available. McAfee says that he performs these
checks daily; a form of computer hygiene.
We would add one more measure of protection to McAfee's
list. Back It Up. Regularly use one of the commercially
available backup programs for both IBM compatible and Macintosh
machines (Fastback, PCTools, et al), or the backup utility that
comes with your machine. Also keep at least one hard copy of
your data.
McAfee has authored several programs which are updated regularly.
Several of these can be obtained from numerous university
machines via NSFnet or Internet by ftp (file transfer program).
One of the programs, Scan, is available at no charge to many of
us. The program is updated regularly as new viruses are
detected. The latest (October 5, 1990) detects 67 major virus
types and hundreds of substrains. Regular use of this program
and avoidance of promiscuous program swapping should reduce the
risk of major losses of data. While the program is available
free (shareware), if you use it regularly you may want to submit
the modest license fee to support continued development and to
obtain updates.
[If you would like a copy of this program, send us a
formatted disk in a suitable mailer. Please take this
opportunity to include the completed questionnaire to register
your collection of microbial or subcellular germplasm or to
update existing information]
***
BARGAIN TOOLS TO CATALOG YOUR COLLECTION
Spending $3-800 for database management software to store culture
collection data in computerized format hardly seems worth it for
the working collection that maintains only a few (less than
several hundred) cultures. New software packages however are
bundling database tools within packages that offer other
facilities as well and are still considerably cheaper than the
full-blown relational database systems. If you don't need the
sophistication of the relational capability of dBase, Paradox and
Oracle and can adequately store your data in a simple table
format, take a look at some of these multipurpose packages.
WINDOWS 3.0 is available with a mouse, Paintbrush (a simple
graphics package), and a host of desktop accessories for
approximately $150. Windows allows you to switch, with just a
few key strokes, between applications that are running
concurrently. It's easy to move quickly from a word processor to
<9>
your appointment calendar, to Paintbrush and then return to the
word processor, exactly where you left it. Also included are
Write, a "what you see is what you get" word processor (which
looks much like WORD for the Apple Macintosh), Notepad (simple
text editor for jotting down a quick lists or modifying a DOS
batch file), and Cardfile, a program which simulates the storage
of phone lists and address lists on 3 /5 cards. This utility
can be used much like needlesort cards for storing, sorting and
viewing culture collection information.
Using Cardfile:
1. Use the mouse to click on the Cardfile icon (a small
picture of a rolledex type cardfile).
2. Create a blank template to include the information you
choose to maintain in the database.
3. Place whatever descriptor you choose in the index field.
Genus species is shown but accession number or perhaps strain
number could be just as valid. This is the field that the card
file will sort the cards on so choose something that will be
unique for each culture you wish to catalog.
4. A zz- is placed at the beginning of the template index
field. The template will be carried along with the cardfile
and will be used to produce blank forms for additions to
the database. The zz just insures that the blank template
will always be at the back and out of the way.
5. Use the Duplicate option to create a new card for data
entry. Fill in the card and it will immediately be sorted into
the correct order
6. Use the Find option to locate any text anywhere on the
card. To find all instances of occurrences of the TI plasmid in
your culture collection use the Find 'TI' command and repeat the
search with the Next command until you have completed the search.
7. A sorted listing of the Index can be printed either on a
printer or by using the Windows|Control Panel|Printers to
generate a file on disk. If you print to a file using the
Generic/Text Only Printer option, the text can then be
incorporated into a standard word processor.
Windows is glitzy and, possibly due to the most intensive media
blitz seen yet in the PC market, is on its way to becoming an
industry standard. Most software houses are producing a windows
interface (even Microsoft rival, WordPerfect Corp.). It is big
and it is slow. I cannot recommend Windows for a machine with
less than 2 Mbytes of extended memory or for any thing less than
a 286 machine (AT style and up) with ample harddisk space (just
the program uses 4.5 Mbytes). The Cardfile application is only a
marginally effective means to manage a culture collection. I
cannot recommend it because of the lack of ablility to sort on
different fields, the inability to format output or to import or
<10>
export data. If you have Windows and your needs are not
extensive it is a useful tool to keep track of collection
records.
On the other hand, after considerable testing, I feel confident
in recommending the following for smaller collections.
PCTOOLS DELUXE V6: Earlier versions of PCTools have long been
indispensable for those of us who manage large numbers of files
on IBM-like machines. This program has now come out with an
extraordinary collection of utilities. Not only does it make
simple work of copying, moving or renaming files and directories
but it can undelete files which have been inadvertently erased.
PCTools also provides a file viewer which allows you to look at
most word processing, spreadsheet and database files without
starting the program which created them (it even makes a good
guess at the program from which the file originated). PCTools
can automate backups, dial your telephone, and includes a bevy of
disk management, disk repair and file recovery utilities. On top
of all that it includes a full fledged database management
program available from a pop-up desktop menu.
The database can handle 4000 characters per record (<70 per
field), 128 fields per record and up to 10,000 records. You can
view and edit records in a table mode with the field names across
the top or quickly switch to a full screen fill-in-the-blank type
form. If you don't like the default form created for you, you can
generate your own very quickly with Notepad, the simple built-in
word processor. This means you can generate catalogs or listings
with as many or as few of the fields for your culture collection
database as you require. Records can be sorted on any field.
The Select Records option allows you to select records based on
the contents of up to eight fields by filling in a simple form.
You can use wildcards and ranges to make the selection as narrow
as you choose. If you've set up your fields properly you could
print, for example, all Xanthomonas cultures isolated from
southern Louisiana that are due for transfer and list the medium
of choice. You can transfer selected records to another database
if you choose to have a subset of your records, or append records
from an outside source.
Setting up a PCTools database is simple. Plan first. Decide how
the culture collection data will be used and how you want to be
able to sort and present it. Though the database can be changed
later, going back and entering additional data that could easily
have been included early on, is time consuming and error prone.
Select Databases from the Desktop Menu. Then when asked for the
name of a database, select NEW. This places you immediately into
the Field Editor where you can define your column headings. The
field types are Character (most alphanumeric data), Numeric
(numbers on which you might want to perform some mathematical
function), Date, and Logical, (yes or no, true or false). Decide
on column widths and when all fields are defined, save the file.
You can start entering records immediately. If you outgrow this
database, all records are compatible with the dBase language and
<11>
thus can be easily imported into dbase IV, Foxbase or the
multitude of other full size db management systems. PCTools
Deluxe, is worth the modest cost of $80 (mail order) if you were
to use nothing but the database. Couple that with the ability to
resurrect deleted and corrupted files, repair (automatically most
of the time) scrambled harddisks (what is the value of the hours
spent in filling your harddisk?) and to easily make full and
incremental backups of your data (even that can be done without
you there); the package is a bargain.
[If you have specific questions about setting up these programs,
write us or email to hanusj@bionette.cgrb.orst.edu. The next
Newsletter will cover using WordPerfect as a Culture Collection
Management Tool.]
***
US SCIENTISTS ACCESS JAPAN'S DATABASES.
NSF, in conjunction with Japan's National Center for Science
Information System (NACIS) is offering US scientists access to
nine of Japan's online databases. The databases include
abstracts of research currently in progress, abstracts of
conferences in science and technology, bibliographies of
dissertations, and a directory of Japanese databases.
Researchers may ask that searches be carried out for them or they
may carry them out themselves at terminals located at NSF and the
Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The service is not
available via NSFnet. For more information contact NACIS Search
Operator, Room 416-A, National Science Foundation. Washington, DC
20550. 202/357-7278
***
------------------
| NEWS BRIEFS |
|__________________|
SHORT CUT TO PLANT CLONING DEVELOPED IN NEPAL. Standard cloning
of plants requires transferring plant cells into medium to
multiply to the shoot stage, waiting for the new shoots to
develop roots, then planting the small rooted plants. A research
team at the National Herbarium and Plant Laboratory in Godawari,
Nepal has developed a non-sterile sand rooting technique in which
rootless shoots are planted in sand beds and covered with
polyethylene sheeting. The scientists report success with crop
plants such as potato as well as with ornamentals. (Asia
Technology 8/90)
***
<12>
ENGINEERED ORGANISMS AND GENE EXCHANGE IN THE ENVIRONMENT.
Dissemination of antibiotic resistance characteristics, which
were formerly rare in natural populations and development of
strains of engineered organisms for release into the environment
have focused attention on possible genetic interchange among
bacteria in their natural habitats. Genetic Transfer in the
Environment (Stuart B. Levy and Robert V. Miller, McGraw-Hill,
New York 1989. 434 pp $54.95 (ISBN 0-07-1037290) is one of the
first attempts to examine and evaluate this exchange of genetic
information in natural populations of bacteria. The book is
reviewed in Bioscience July/August 1990
***
FUSION OF GENES FROM BACTERIA AND VIRUSES TO YIELD POTENT
BIOCONTROL AGENTS. Insect viruses are highly specific in host
recognition yet only certain strains of bacteria produce
effective insect toxins. Natarajan Sirasubramanian (Univ. of
California, Riverside) has proposed to "combine the host
recognition proteins of the virus with the toxin of the
bacteria". The entomologists have deduced the structure of two
viral host recognition proteins and four of the bacterial genes
which produce insect toxins. The group has received a $253,000
grant to develop the microbial biocontrol agent.
***
AMMONIA PRODUCING ALGAE BOOST RICE YIELD. Genetically
manipulated blue-green algae from ponds was found to increase
rice growth as much as added commercial fertilizer. USDA
scientist at Univ. of Florida have found that the mutant strains
produce NH3 as long as nearby plants utilize it. (Genetic
Engineering News 6/90).
***
KURTZMAN RECEIVES CULTURE COLLECTION AWARD. Cletus P. Kurtzman,
curator of the yeast collection of the USDA's Northern Research
Center in Peoria, IL was given the J. Roger Porter Award.
Kurtzman has been a leader in the application of molecular
techniques to yeast taxonomy. The award was established by the
US Federal Culture Collection and the American Society for
Microbiology. (Bioscience 8/90
***
DISCOVERER OF SUPPRESSOR-MUTATOR (spm) ELEMENT IN MAIZE HONORED.
King-Chuen Chow who discovered the transposable spm in maize
became the first Barbara McClintock Fellow of the Carnegie
Institution of Washington.
***
NSF FUNDS $7.2 MILLION FACILITY FOR MICROBIAL PROCESSES. Montana
State University at Bozeman, will be the site of the Center for
Interfacial Microbial Process Engineering which will focus on
environmental biotechnology.
***
<13>
-------------------
| NEW PRODUCTS |
i___________________|
MEMORY RESIDENT BIBLIOGRAPHY PROGRAM RUNS WITH WORD PROCESSOR.
GET-A-REF is a reference handler for MS-DOS microcomputers. It
is memory resident allowing the user access to reference
materials while using a word processor and can incorporate full
formatted references. Reference files are ASCII and can be
downloaded directly from online databases such as BIOSIS and
MEDLINE. Contact DataAid, Inc. P.O. Box 8865, Madison, WI
53708-8865. 608/258-7767.
***
FREE LITERATURE
Two volumes, The Catalog and Handbook for the Cell Culture
Scientist and New Products for Insect Cell Culture are available
from JRH Biosciences; P.O. Box 14848 Lenexa, KS 66215-0848.
Cell Culture on Millipore Membranes, a booklet with 60 references
and brief abstracts is available from Millipore Corp. 80 Ashby
Rd. Bedford, MA 01730. 800/225-1380.
The ATCC recombinant DNA Materials Listing is a 128 page book
containing cloning vectors, hosts, cloned inserts and libraries
that appeared in ATCC Catalog of Recombinant DNA Collections,
plus 250 items that have been added since it was originally
published in 1986. It includes more than 800 recombinant DNA
items. Free to US customers. ATCC/Marketing NR 30; 12301
Parklawn Drive; Rockville, MD 20852-1776. 301/881/2600.
Loss of Biological Diversity: A Global Crisis Requiring
International Solutions, (NSB-89-171) is available from Forms and
Publications, National Science Foundation, Washington, DC, 20550
(302)357-7861). The 20 page report is abundantly documented and
could serve as a source book for a short course or symposium in
the area. While authored by distinguished scientists, it is not
overly technical and would make and excellent resource for
economists and social scientists who wish to broaden their
understanding of these complex issues (see related article in
this newsletter).
***
<14>
PLEASE TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO FILL IN THIS QUESTIONNAIRE.
IT CAN BE FILLED IN WITH YOUR SYSTEM'S TEXT EDITOR AND SENT
BY REPLY E-MAIL, OR DOWNLOADED, PRINTED AND SENT BY SURFACE MAIL.
( DATA ENTRY POINTS ARE MARKED BY '>'. YOU CAN SAVE TIME
BY USING YOUR EDITOR'S 'FIND' TO JUMP FORWARD TO EACH BLANK
TO BE COMPLETED )
DATA FROM ALL COLLECTIONS ARE IMPORTANT IN
MGD, REGARDLESS OF SIZE.
addresses are:
e-mail
hanusj@bionette.cgrb.orst.edu on internet
hanusj@orstvm on bitnet
Surface mail
F. Joe Hanus
Microbial Germplasm Database
Dept. of Botany and Plant Pathology
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
_________________________________________________________________________
MICROBIOLOGICAL AND SUBCELLULAR
GERMPLASM COLLECTIONS
NAME>
DEPT>
INSTITUTION>
ADDRESS>
CITY> STATE>
POSTAL CODE> COUNTRY>
PHONE NO>
ELECTRONIC MAIL ADDRESS>
FAX NUMBER>
1. How many (please give numbers, even if they are approximate) different cultures of each group are in your collection?
> Fastidious Procaryotes
> Bacteria
> Fungi
> Endo/Ecto-mycorrhizae
> Protozoa
> Algae
> Nematodes
> Plasmids
> Cloning Vectors
> Cloned genes, libraries
> Plant viruses
> Mycoviruses
> Phage
> Cloned MCA's
> Antisera
> Viroids
> Satellite nucleic acids
> Other nucleic acids
2. Is your collection centered around particular organisms or groups,
> No
> Yes (Which group?)
3. What is the principal research interest of your laboratory?
>
4. How many unique sequenced genes or DNA segments (fragments) are
included in your collection?
>
5. What proportion of your collection is used for:
> Research
> Teaching
> Other
6. Do you receive funds specifically for the support of your collection?
> Yes
> No
7. Do you provide cultures to other scientists?
> Yes
> No
Do you charge?
> Yes
> No
8. a. Do you maintain documentation for each accession?
> Yes
> No
b. In computer format?
> Yes
> No
9. If you answered NO to 8b; a. Are you interested in developing such
a system?
> Yes
> No
b. Constraints against computerizing?
> time/labor
> funding
> no computer
> not needed
10. If you answered YES to 8b:
a. Type of computer
> Macintosh
> IBM compatible
> Other (specify please)
b. What program do you use to catalog your collection?
>
c. Is your computer used for telecommunication?
> Yes
> No
If yes for what purposes?
> electronic mail
> local area network
> bibliographic/genetic databases
> national networks (internet, bitnet)
other(please specify)>
11. List the specific main headings of information recorded for
each accession in your documentation for your collection.(e.g. genus,
species, host, geographical location of isolation, etc.)
>
12. a. Would you find a directory of laboratories compiled
from this survey useful?
> Yes
> No
b. If online?
> Yes
> No
c. What uses would such a directory have in your work?
>
13. PLEASE LIST NAMES OF COLLEGUES AT YOUR INSTITUTION WHO
MAINTAIN COLLECTIONS. (OR GIVE THEM A COPY OF THIS QUESTIONNAIRE)
>