The CIRM in the new European landscape of biodiversity preservation: towards a deposition policy for INRA biological resources?

The Centre International de Ressources Microbiennes (CIRM) was created by INRA in 2004. The CIRM is now a network of five collections dedicated to the preservation, distribution and exploration of microbial biodiversity. It preserves more than 15,000 strains of plant, food and pathogenic bacteria, yeasts and filamentous fungi. CIRM is a Biological Research Center (BRC), ISO 9001 certified since 2008. The CIRM coordinated the European infrastructure project EMbaRC, which brought together 8 major microbial BRCs in Europe (www.embarc.eu). The CIRM is now partner of a larger infrastructure project established on the ESFRI roadmap, MIRRI (Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure). It includes over 70 microbial domain resource centers in 26 European countries (www.mirri.eu). Type strains are deposited in public collections under the pressure of journal editors and various international committees. However, despite the existence of dedicated BRCs, a very small proportion of published strains are deposited in such structures (1); this restricts further research and jeopardizes valorization of the biological material. To improve this situation, CIRM encourages strain deposit by INRA scientists. In return, CIRM ensures a high standard preservation and an enhanced visibility of the deposited material through its display in various databases (CIRM and FBRCMi databases, WFCC web site, StrainInfo.net…). In addition, CIRM also provides protection of the intellectual properties of the deposited material. Together with Inra scientists, CIRM therefore proposes to establish a deposition policy to improve the availability and visibility of INRA biological resources. This joint enterprise will constitute a strong example for the new landscape of European biodiversity preservation, which is currently being built in the MIRRI project.