Instytut Ochrony Roślin - Państwowy Instytut Badawczy

The main task of the Bank of Pathogens is to collect and protect microorganisms pathogenic to plants (fungi, bacteria). The collection was established in 1996 and is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Economy.

Collection

The collection contains approx. 2000 fungal isolates and over 200 bacterial strains. Each pathogen is protected by at least two complementary methods and is documented in detail. The vast majority of pathogens come from Poland.

The stored microorganisms are:

• fungi: Fusarium, Alternaria, Colletotrichum, Verticillium, Sclerotinia, Rhizoctonia, Botrytis, Cladosporium, Phoma, and other,
• bacteria: Erwinia, Pseudomonas, Clavibacter, Pectobacterium, Xanthomonas, Agrobacterium, Dickeya, Pantoea and other.

A list of pathogens stored in the Bank's Collection is available at:

http://bankpat.expertus.com.pl/search/

Our services

• giving access to pathogens,
• exchange of pathogens under individually negotiated conditions,
• paid deposit of microbial pathogenic cultures for a fixed period of time,
• identification of pathogens,
• organising and conducting trainings on the application of preservation methods for fungi and bacteria,
• development and distribution of descriptions of pathogens in the form of compendia,
• developing and updating a computer collection database.

The Bank of Pathogens also keeps in deposit any quarantine microorganisms, which for legal and safety reasons are stored at the Research Centre for Quarantine, Invasive and Genetically Modified Organisms IPP – NRI in Poznań.

Quarantine organisms can only be shipped upon receiving the appropriate permit issued
by the Voivodeship Inspector of Plant Health and Seed Inspection.