Lyophilization of nonsporulating strains of the fungusClaviceps

Maintenance of active strains of microorganisms is one of the fundamental problems for every successful industrial biosynthesis. In this paper, the efficiency of lyophilization for long-term preservation of nonsporulating strains of the fungusClaviceps, producing ergot alkaloids in saprophytic cultures, was studied. It was found that lyophilization is a suitable method for the preservation of the testedClaviceps strains. All treated strains have retained their vitality and biochemical properties unchanged after three years of storage.