VTT Culture Collection: Catalogue of strains

The VTT Culture Collection is a collection of microorganisms and cell cultures, which is housed in the unit Biotechnology and Food Research of the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) and is financed by VTT. It has been a member of the European Culture Collections Organization (ECCO) since 1984, of the World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC) since 1985, of the Microbial Information. Network Europe (MINE) since 1991 and was registered with the World Data Center for Microorganisms (WDC) in 1986 (number 139). The first microbial strains were deposited in 1959. At present the total building is almost 1400 strains including 385 yeasts, 425 filamentous fungi and 525 bacteria, most of which are described in this catalogue. As from 1992 plasmids and plant cells and from 1993 bacteriophages are also included. Organisms involved in the malting, brewing, distilling, baking or pulp and paper process are dominant in the collection. The cultures are maintained in the freeze-dried state and ultra-low temperature. The main functions are the deposition including Safe Deposit, delivery of cultures, identification, consultation and training.