Since its inception, MTCC has strived to fulfill its objectives giving utmost importance to the needs of the customers by providing quality services. MTCC has about 20,000 microbial cultures (actinomycetes, bacteria, fungi, yeasts and plasmids) in its collections. The collections include the microbial type strains of several taxa, strains used for teaching purposes, genetic stock, cultures used for various testing etc. More than 80% of the microbial cultures available in MTCC are of Indian origin and from various ecological niches of India. Over the past 25 years, MTCC has established itself as a distinguished culture collection centre for microbial resources in India. It has a database of about 12,500 customers who consult MTCC for various activities related to microbiology.

Cultures can be ordered by accessing the online catalogue. Most of the cultures are supplied in freeze-dried form. Some cultures, which do not survive freeze drying, are supplied in active form. They are generally mailed by registered post within 15-20 working days after the order has reached us. The prescribed fee should be sent along with the request. Cultures are not supplied to private addresses. Cultures should be revived / subcultured as soon as they arrive. New cultures are being added to the collection regularly. If the culture of your interest is not listed in the catalogue, please enquire about its availability. A note on the reference to any publication using MTCC strains will be highly appreciated.

Important:

The MTCC supplies cultures for research purposes only and with its own accession numbers.
Recipients of cultures should not pass on such cultures to others with MTCC references.
MTCC does not supply cultures having accession numbers of other culture collections. However, subcultures derived from the original isolate (equivalent culture) are available. Equivalent cultures may not necessarily be exactly identical because genetic drift may occur.
All cultures should be handled carefully taking proper and established safety precautions.
The MTCC is not responsible for any misuse or improper handling of its cultures.
Please search the online catalogue for cultures required for your work (http://www.mtccindia.res.in/catalog ).
Regarding the cultures with other culture collection numbers, search the catalogue using equivalent number option and look for the strains required for your work.

FOR UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES AND GOVT. RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS:

The price per culture supplied by MTCC is Rs. 2,000/- + 12.0% GST. Fungi and yeasts can also be supplied as active cultures on slants is Rs.3,000/- + 12.00% GST.

ALL OTHER ORGANIZATIONS:

The price per culture supplied by MTCC is Rs.6,000/- + 12.0% GST. culture ampoule along with COA the fee is Rs.7,000/- + 12.0% GST PER AMPOULE. Fungi and yeasts can also be supplied as active cultures on slants is Rs.9,000/- + 12.0% GST.

Regular identification of bacteria and yeasts are carried out on the basis of morphological, biochemical and physiological characteristics. For fungi, morphological, microscopic structures and DNA sequence data are routinely used for identication purposes. MTCC normally takes eight to ten weeks to complete the identification process. Sincere efforts are always made to identify the cultures but the MTCC does not guarantee identification of each and every organism it receives and the fee is non-refundable. Molecular analysis is available at additional cost please see fee structure. Please make sure to send only pure and sporulating cultures.

In order to see more details of Identification and Characterization click on READ MORE Button.

The MTCC welcomes deposit of cultures which are useful for scientific and industrial research. Deposits can be made under three categories. Different forms are to be used for different type of deposits.

Public Deposits

If you think that your cultures are valuable, please deposit them with the MTCC. The cultures will be preserved in the best possible ways. There is no fee for deposit of cultures in the general category. Researchers who are interested in depositing identified strains in the MTCC should contact the Curator before dispatching their cultures. They are required to submit the Culture Data Sheet for each strain by giving relevant details. After processing of a strain by the MTCC, three freeze-dried (lyophilized) ampoules of the strain are sent to the depositor. This ensures that the depositor will have a stock of the strain which can be stored for reasonably a long period. In case of strains which can not be successfully freeze-dried, the depositors may request for supply of cultures on agar slants which is free of cost for only once.

Requests for general deposit of cultures should come from the research supervisors/scientists.
MTCC can accept the cultures for general deposit that confirm to the following:
- The cultures to be deposited are of interest to MTCC from diversity point of view.
- Strains of any novel species are accepted.
If MTCC already has several strains of a particular species, additional strains of that species may not be accepted for general deposit.
For accepting bacteria under general deposit, we need both phenotypic and 16S rRNA gene sequence data (at least 1400 bases,along with chromatograms).
For fungi and yeasts we need either sequence data of ITS region or D1/D2 domain of 26S rRNA gene (along with chromatograms).

Acceptance of cultures for confidential deposit

Safe deposit
Patent deposit (Deposit under Budapest Treaty)

Safe Deposits

These cultures are handled with confidentiality and are kept under security. Only the depositor has access to these cultures. There is an annual fee for such a deposit. An agreement needs to be signed between the depositor and the MTCC.

These deposit are not valid for filing patents.
Valid for 5 years
Educational and Govt. R&D institutes:
The depositor has to pay a fee of Rs.30,000/- PER CULTURE (Rs.25,000 deposit fee+ Rs.5,000/- for making ampoules) + 18.00% GST (for 5 years)
Others:
The depositor has to pay a one time fee of Rs.85,000/- PER CULTURE (Rs.75,000 deposit fee+ Rs.10,000/- for making ampoules)+ 18.00% GST (for 5 years)
Beyond five years, the fee for Educationanal and Govt. R&D institutes Rs. 5,000/- + 18.00% GST every year. For others it is Rs.15,000/- + 18% GST.

Patent Deposits

India is a signatory state to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and also to World Trade Organization (WTO). In this context, India has a well functioning national facility, MTCC. It is a recognized IDA for the deposition of microorganisms for the purpose of patent procedure. It is designated depository of National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) as well as of Indian Patent Office (IPO).

The MTCC does not list these cultures in the catalogue/database. Since a depositor needs to declare accession number in the patent application, the information about the culture is also in public domain (your application). These cultures are handled with confidentiality and kept under security and are given to the depositors or authorized persons as per patent regulations. This type of deposit is valid for filing patent in India.There is one time fee for such a deposit.

Valid for 30 years
Valid for filing patents in India and other PCT countries
Non-Profit organizations:
The depositor has to pay a one time fee of Rs.20,000/- PER CULTURE (Rs.15,000 deposit fee + Rs.5,000/- for making ampoules) + 18.00% GST.
Commercial organizations:
The depositor has to pay a one time fee of Rs.25,000/- PER CULTURE (Rs.15,000 deposit fee + Rs.10,000/- for making ampoules)+ 18.00% GST.
If you want to continue the deposit beyond 30 years, you need to pay fee as applicable as per the extant rates every year.

Freeze-drying of microbial cultures (Ten ampoules)

One of the best ways to store bacterial, fungal, yeast or other microorganism culture for long periods of time is to use a process called freeze drying or lyophilisation. In the freeze-drying process water is removed from the frozen sample. Bacteria are suspended in a suitable protective medium, frozen and exposed to a vacuum. After drying the bacteria are stored under vacuum in glass vials, for preservation of culture collection. The viability or the colony forming units of the strain are tested before and after the preservation step and, depending from the strain, in certain intervals during the storage period for documentation of viability form.

Determination of G+C mol content (Tm)

GC-content (Guanine-Cytosine content), in molecular biology, is the percentage of nitrogenous bases on a DNA molecule which are either guanine or cytosine .This may refer to a specific fragment of DNA or RNA, or that of the whole genome. When it refers to a fragment of the genetic material, it may denote the GC-content of part of a gene (domain), single gene, group of genes (or gene clusters) or even a non-coding region. G (Guanine) and C (Cytosine) undergo a specific hydrogen bonding whereas A (Adenine) bonds specific with T (Thymine).

The GC-content percentages as well as GC-ratio can be measured by several means, but one of the simplest methods is to measure is called the melting temperature of the DNA double helix using spectrophotometry. DNA melting can be easily followed spectrophotometrically because of the absorbance of 250 nm UV light by the DNA increases during strand separation. When a DNA sample is slowly heated the absorbance increases as hydrogen bonds are broken and reaches a plateau when the entire DNA has become single stranded. The midpoint of the rising curve gives the melting temperature, a direct measure of the G+C content.

GC content is usually expressed as a percentage value, but sometimes as a ratio (G+C ratio or GC-ratio).

Bacterial Genomic DNA (on request)

The isolation and purification of DNA from cells is one of the most common procedures in contemporary molecular biology and embodies a transition from cell biology to the molecular biology (from in vivo to in vitro). The organism to be used should be grown in a favourable medium at an optimal temperature, and should be harvested in late log to early stationary phase for maximum yield.

The genomic DNA isolation needs to separate total DNA from RNA, protein, lipid, etc.

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Culture Supply

Characterization

Deposit