Welcome to the ARS Culture Collection (also known as the NRRL Collection) website. The Collection is one of the largest public collections of microorganisms in the world, currently containing approximately 95,000 strains of actinomycetes, bacteria, molds, and yeasts. The collection is housed within the Bacterial Foodborne Pathogens and Mycology Research Unit at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Illinois.

This site provides information regarding the public ("open") collection of strains, which includes a searchable public access catalog for many of the holdings of well characterized strains. The site also provides information on the deposit and distribution of strains maintained in the ARS Patent Culture Collection, which is historically the first collection for strains related to patent applications in the world. The holdings of the patent strains, except for those that also serve as type strains, are not searchable, but the website provides the protocol for obtaining patent strains that are released to the scientific public.

A number of important endangered collections, including the Howard Dulmage collection of insecticidal Bacillus strains, the International Streptomyces Project (ISP) collection and the Jack Fell collection of marine yeasts, have been accessioned into the ARS Culture Collection and may be found in the online catalog. Several other endangered collections, such as the U. S. Army Quartermaster Collection of Fungi, are held here for safe-keeping but are not accessioned into the ARS Culture Collection.

The online catalog of strains permits users to request strains from search results. Effort is being made to ensure that strains having NRRL accession numbers that are present in the published literature can be found in the online catalog. Please note that selections from each page of the search results must be added to the shopping cart before moving to a new page. Each request is limited to 12 strains ( and must not exceed 24 strains per laboratory for a given calender year) and must conform to the ARS Culture Collection distribution policies. Patent strains still must be requested in writing from Mr. James Swezey. The APHIS permits for distribution of strains pathogenic to plants or animals within the US can be uploaded in digtial format during the strain selection process. International requests for these strains also still require either the appropriate national importation permit or documentation that no permit is needed, and these are to be uploaded during the request process. Inquiries for strains not listed in the online catalog but for which you have an NRRL accession number should also be directed to Mr. James Swezey.