IBT Culture Collection of Fungi

The internationally recognized IBT (Institut for Bioteknologi) strain collection at DTU Bioengineering was founded in 1988 and includes more than 38,400 fungal isolates/strains. The biodiversity covered by the collection mainly falls within the ascomycetous filamentous fungi and yeasts, supplemented with few basidiomycetes and mucoromycetes.

The collection comprises fungi isolated by DTU researches, from many different habitats, e.g. soil, buildings, food products, and geographical locations in Denmark, and around the world. The collection further includes significant contributions by Martha Christensen (US) with soil-derived strains (Rocky Mountain Fungi (RMF), Wisconsin Soil Fungi (WSF) and World Tour fungi (WT)), by John Clutterbuck (UK) with genetic variants of Aspergillus nidulans, and lastly from the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute (CBS, NL).

The IBT collection includes more than two thousand different fungal species, and for particular species, the collection holds hundreds of different individuals capturing a level of diversity not covered by other collections. Nearly all known species of the five genera Aspergillus, Penicillium, Paecilomyces, Rasamsonia and Talaromyces are represented via their ex type culture or other authentic cultures. The latest addition to the collation is more than 3000 genetically modified strains of Aspergillus, Penicillium and Talaromyces. DTU continuously records the production of secondary metabolites (e.g. mycotoxins), along other metadata, for the strains in IBT collection, and strives to make such data accessible on different levels.

Cultures are available for exchange (academic purposes) or sale (academic and commercial purposes), but for cultures acquired from other collections, such as IMI, NRRL, ATCC, CBS, CCF, DSM, IHEM etc. the potential customer is referred directly to these collections. Strains originating from countries that are adhering to the Rio convention and the Nagoya protocol, and that have been isolated after October 10, 2014, cannot be obtained, except if an agreement with the country of origin has been made.