SGER: Preserving a national resource- the biotic diversity in the University of Miami marine yeast collection

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The University of Miami maintains the world's largest collection (~2500 stains) of marine yeasts. Yeasts are ecologically important in the microbial food loop as converters of organic material to edible microbial protein and they are economically important as the basis of 80bn dollar/yr industries. The yeasts, which are known, are phylogenetically diverse encompassing approximately 20 Orders, 120 Genera and 1200 species, however only ~1% of the yeasts in nature have been discovered. The UM collection is unique in its origin and the collection is internationally recognized as having provided a basis for modern molecular systematics. A significant portion of the collection remains unstudied and contains undescribed strains, species and genera of yeasts. The collection in its entirety represents an important source of germplasm for future academic investigations and industrial/clinical exploitation. The collection is in imminent danger of being lost. This SGER funding request will temporarily support personnel needed to transfer the strains and the associated ecological, phenotypic and molecular data to the two most prominent national and international collections. Arrangements have been made with NRRL/USDA Peoria, Ill and the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, Utrecht, The Netherlands to maintain the collection. The two institutions would provide the scientific, industrial and medical communities with access to the strains and data. The collection represents a large investment in ship time for collections and for the extensive research that has resulted in significant scientific contributions, which, in turn, have spawned secondary published investigations by the international community. Consequently, the collection must be preserved; discarding the collection is not in the best interest of science. A broader impact of this project is the preservation of this unique material that is of wide interest and potential importance to the scientific community.