National Collection of Yeast Cultures
British yeast collection with over 4400 strains under the Budapest Treaty.
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The National Collection of Yeast Cultures (NCYC) is a British yeast culture collection based at the Norwich Research Park in Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom. It maintains a collection of over 4400 strains and operates under the Budapest Treaty, making it a notable repository for both traditional and non-pathogenic yeast species.
Background
The National Collection of Yeast Cultures was founded in 1948 when a group of British brewers, who later formed the Brewing Industry Research Foundation, decided to store their yeast cultures in a single, safe deposit to ensure their longevity. In 1981, NCYC evolved into a broader collection when it moved to the Institute of Food Research in Norwich, where it collected food spoilage yeast that was able to evade conventional food preservatives. In 1999, the collection became part of The United Kingdom National Culture Collection (UKNCC), which was established to coordinate the activities of Britain’s national collections of microbial organisms.
In 2019, the collection moved to the new facility in Quadram Institute Biosciences in the Norwich Research Park, where it is currently based. The yeasts are kept frozen under liquid nitrogen or freeze-dried in glass ampoules, and the collection is duplicated and stored off site for safety. Yeasts have been stored and revived successfully decades later.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: National Collection of Yeast Cultures (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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