Leibniz-Institut DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen (Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures )
The DSMZ Data Center is administrated by the Leibniz-Institut DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen (Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures). The DSMZ is one of the largest biological resource centers worldwide. Its collections currently comprise almost 40,000 items, including about 20,000 different bacterial and 5,000 fungal strains, 700 human and animal cell lines, 800 plant cell lines, 1,000 plant viruses and antisera, and 4,800 different types of bacterial genomic DNA.
GFBio Data Center
Besides being a comprehensive bioresource center, DSMZ is as well a state-of-the-art research institute. More than 40 scientists, PhDs and postdoctoral fellows make us an active research collection. Research areas include the microbial ecology, diversity and phylogenesis, the mechanisms of microbial evolution. Furthermore, our research fields comprise bioinfomatics, microbial cell biology, single cell genomics and infection research. Located at the DSMZ is BacDive - The Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase. BacDive focuses providing organism-linked information covering the multifarious aspects of bacterial biodiversity, e.g. taxonomic classification, morphology, physiology, cultivation, origin, natural habitat. BacDive offers the opportunity to publish datasets in an highly integrated database. The integration of additional data is a central objective of BacDive. Proposals for the integration of relevant collection descriptions are highly encouraged. In the medium term, data submissions and data flow via GFBio Data portal will be fully automated by integrated interfaces. We encourage to combine data submission to the DSMZ GFBio Data Center with the deposit of the biological resource: Available (Meta-)Data for strains deposited at the DSMZ open collection. The data is then curated in the DSMZ in house data management solution and published via BacDive interfaces to GFBio portal and associated data portals.
Scientific data curation services (incl. taxonomic services)
The Leibniz Institute DSMZ is an active research collection and covers various fields of research, e.g. microbial ecology and diversity research; for more information see research at DSMZ. The DSMZ has a long established and well-founded expertise in microbial research collection management, taxonomy. As a high quality taxonomic list DSMZ offers Prokaryotic Nomenclature up-to-date - a compilation of all validly published names of bacteria and archaea. As infrastructure facility the DSMZ maintains specific expertise and offers counseling in the areas.
- collection management of microorganisms, plant cell lines and viruses, human and animal cell lines
- microbial taxonomy, phylogeny and species description
- standardization and quality assurance of bioresources
- biosafety and biosecurity
- legal framework for the exploitation of bioresources (Patenting, Convention of Biological Diversity, Access and Benefit Sharing)
Besides its function as an infrastructure facility, DSMZ maintains comprehensive expert knowledge in data driven aspects of microbiology, genomics, bioinformatics and biodiversity-orientated research. The Leibniz- Institute DSMZ is an active member of global bioresource center networks such as the World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC) and publishes information on its biological resources for years via the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN), via the Common Access to Biological Resources and Information (CABRI) portal or via contributions to the strain-associated catalogue of the StrainInfo bioportal. Within the GBIF Germany the DSMZ constitutes the GBIF-D node Bacteria & Archaea. The DSMZ hosts the coordination Office of Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure (MIRRI) and actively participates in several of its workpackages.
Data domains
As DSMZ data center we focus on providing organism-linked information covering the multifarious aspects of bacterial biodiversity.
IT services
Data submission and accession
- BacDive - The Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase - custom data import of descriptions of culture collections, expert-compiled compendia, trait data. Additionally, we have implemented functionalities for individual data annotation in BacDive. This extension is currently in alpha release state and tested only in house.
- DSMZ open collection - Combined deposition of biological resources and descriptive data
Data integration and management
- Expertise and counseling in collection management of microorganisms, plant cell lines and viruses, human and animal cell lines
Data backup and archiving
- Backup and archiving facilities of the Leibniz Institute DSMZ
Data publication
- BacDive - The Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase
- DSMZ data provider service via BioCASe wrapper
- DSMZ as GBIF Data publisher
- DSMZ at the WFCC and WDCM
User services
- Individual support, workshops and trainings on request and available capacities
- BacDive User Helpdesk