Customer Support

Scientific inquiries concerning our microorganisms should be directed to the respective curators.

Quality Assurance

Viability
From all strains provided for deposit, viability and purity are tested by subculturing. Each batch produced is again checked for viability after preservation, and after intervals scheduled for the different taxa.

Purity
Purity of each batch preserved is checked after production. This check may include microscopical and macroscopical observations or selected physiological, chemosystematic or molecular based tests.

Authenticity
Each strain is checked by the most significant techniques available for this purpose and the taxon in question. The following options are available:

  • morphology and growth behaviour
  • physiological properties including API® kits  or BIOLOGTM substrate plates
  • selected strain-specific phenotypic/genotypic markers, e.g. resistances, sensitivities, plasmid-encoded properties
  • chemotaxonomic markers such as whole cell fatty acid patterns
  • molecular based techniques such as gene sequencing (16S rRNA, house keeping genes), automated RiboPrinting®
  • MALDI-TOF MS

Special characters or applications
The DSMZ is not in a position to verify specific properties or applications claimed for a strain in the literature. The DSMZ is not responsible for differences between the properties of the strain deposited in the DSMZ and properties given in the literature/databases