WDCM Underpins the Networking of Microbial Resource Centers

Abstract

Abstract The World Data Centre for Microorganisms (WDCM) with more than 50 years history aims to provide comprehensive data platforms for microbial resources and their integrated data services by fully utilizing involving information technologies for microbial resource centers and microbiologists all over the world. Currently, WDCM is maintaining a network consisting of several databases for 776 microbial resources center from 76 countries and regions. CCINFO (Culture Collections Information Worldwide) provides registration and metadata information for global culture collections. The availability of the taxonomic type strains of prokaryote species is searchable among these registered culture collections constructing infrastructure based on the International Code of Prokaryote Systematics. Furthermore, the GCM (Global Catalogue of Microorganism) integrates and shares strain basis catalogue information from more than 127 culture collections. Utilizing this strain catalogue information, the ABC (Analyzer of Bio‐resource Citation) performs data mining from publications, patents, nucleotide sequences, and genomes from public data sources to form a knowledge base. To host the rapidly increasing metagenomics data, WDCM established the gcMeta platform which features a database management system for archiving and publishing metagenomics data in a standardized way. Recently, WDCM established cooperation with the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology and Bergey's Manual Trust to provide free genome sequencing for type strains, which is part of the GCM 2.0 10K type strain sequencing project to complete current genomic gaps for the validly published prokaryotic and fungal species enabling genome sequence comparison including DNA–DNA hybridization for new species candidates with already‐established species.