SUS-MIRRI.IT: How microbial culture collections hold up a more sustainable, competitive, and resilient bioeconomy

SUS-MIRRI.IT: How microbial culture collections hold up a more sustainable, competitive, and resilient bioeconomy Marino Moretti and Giovanna Cristina Varese, Project Manager and Scientific Coordinator, respectively, of the EU-funded project SUS-MIRRI.IT, on behalf of all project partners, explain how safeguarding microbial biodiversity is extremely paramount for the future of our planet. Microbial Culture Collections (mCCs) are repositories of microorganisms, and recently of microbiomes (i.e., communities of microorganisms such as bacteria, yeasts, filamentous fungi, and viruses that share the same habitat along with their theatre of activity), which investigate and safeguard microbial biodiversity. These institutions facilitate access to microbial resources to the scientific and industrial communities and provide information on the data associated with them, as well as expertise in microbiology, services, training, and knowledge transfer in the healthcare, agro-food, and environmental domains.