FAQ - microorganisms

No, the DSMZ does not sell cultivation media. Detailed information on the cultivation media you need for your strain(s) is available from the strain entry in the online catalogue as well as from our database MediaDive. The latter also provides detailed information about the medium recipe and its production process.

Detailed information on the cultivation media you need for your strain(s) is available from the strain entry in the online catalogue as well as from our database MediaDive. The latter also provides detailed information about the medium recipe and its production process.

All entries in our online catalogue indicate the cultivation conditions used by the DSMZ. These include both the medium and temperature used in the DSMZ for cultivating the strain. We recommend that only these cultivation conditions be used when initially re-activating a freeze-dried strain or for the initial sub-culturing of an actively growing strain.

Additional information about the used cultivation media (recipe, production, …) can be obtained from our MediaDive database.

Special tips for cultivating certain groups of organisms can be found here.

Please follow all instructions provided on the "Handling and Safety Information" brochure accompanying your cultures consignment regarding the re-activation of freeze-dried strains. This information is also available as download here.
We also provide video tutorials for handling aerobes and anaerobes.
Additional information on a variety of other organisms including myxobacteria, streptococci, enterococci, methanogens, acidophiles etc. can be found here.
Actively growing cultures are best sub-cultured using the medium and growth conditions listed in our online catalogue under the strain specific information or use our MediaDive database.

Generally, use the recommended medium without the addition of agar. For fastidious microorganisms which grow only on solid media (e. g. M 693; M 429; M 585) use complex liquid media like M 1; M 545 or M 92. Please keep in mind that the organisms DO NOT GROW in these liquid media.
It is better to use any peptone or casamino acid or yeast extract containing medium than water or buffer for the solubilization of the pellet.

For many fastidious organisms a higher inoculum is needed to reactivate them. Add 0.5 ml of adequate liquid medium (given for each strain in its specific strain entry in the online catalogue) to the pellet and dissolve the pellet as quickly as possible, then dilute the suspension with 4.5 ml of the same medium. For strains that grow only on plates but not in liquid media, distribute at least 1 ml suspension on each agar plate. If the strain grows also in liquid medium use 1 ml for inoculation of 5 ml liquid medium, plate the rest on agar plates also using 1 ml suspension per plate. In some cases, it is recommended to resuspend the material of one ampoule in 1 ml and plate it completely onto one single agar plate. Please check the specific strain entry in our online catalogue.

Once strains obtained from the DSMZ have been successfully sub-cultured in a customer’s laboratory these methods could be used for long-term storage. Since the DSMZ holds more thousands of bioresources it is impossible to give exact details for each strain. The DSMZ generally stores the majority of its bacteria and archaea in liquid nitrogen and/or freeze dried. Some strains are also stored at -80°C.

The methods used by the DSMZ and in other collections for long-term storage of Bacteria and Archaea have been published here:
Day, J.G. & Stacey, G.N. (2007). Cryopreservation and Freeze-Drying Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology Volume 368, chapter Vacuum-Drying and Cryopreservation of Prokaryotes. doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-362-2.
In addition, useful information is provided by the CABRI guidelines.

Please contact the relevant collection expert.