GCM and gcType in 2024: comprehensive resources for microbial strains and genomic data

Microbial culture collections play a crucial role in the collection, maintenance, and distribution of quality-assured living microbial strains, along with their associated phenotypic and omics data. To enhance the find-able, accessible, interoperable, and re-usable (FAIR) data utilization of microbial resources, the World Data Center for Microorganisms (WDCM) has developed the Global Catalogue of Microorganisms (GCM) and the Global Catalogue of Type Strains (gcType). These platforms provide interactive interfaces for cataloging the holdings of collections, along with detailed annotations of type strain genomes and curated metadata, including ecosystems, growth conditions, and collection locations. The system maximizes the scientific impact of microbial resources and culture collections through an integrated data mining tool that links strain- and species-related information from various public resources. Currently, the GCM and gcType include 574 422 strains from 154 culture collections across 51 countries and regions, along with 25 980 genomes from type species. Additionally, 2 702 655 articles and 103 337 patents are integrated with these microbial resources. The system supports microbial taxonomic research and provides evidence for implementing the Nagoya Protocol in the field of microbial resources and their digital sequence information (DSI). Access is freely available at gcm.wdcm.org and gctype.wdcm.org.