The importance of ex situ preservation for the utilization of microbiological resources

Abstract

Historically, Biological Resource Centres (BRCs) have been of utmost importance for the progress of knowledge of the living world. This is a tradition that may be tracked back to the 18tl' century, when the first Botanic Gardens were installed in Europe. After poi~ing the most important landmarks in the evolution of the concept of BRCs, several new issues are identified, related with the new questions that are currently being addressed by new discoveries in the microbial world in the fields of biodiversity, environment, medicine and pharmacology. The new tools comin~ from Molecular Biology gave birth to new problems and readdressed old quest ons, pushing Microbiology to the frontiers of Science and presenting new challenges to BRCs researchers.