Three new strains are now available from the National Collection of Industrial Food and Marine Bacteria – one hydrocarbon degrading Halomonas species and two strains of Salinisphaera.

The Halomonas species, NCIMB 15113, was deposited by researchers from the Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology at the University of Oklahoma. It was isolated from a produced water storage tank in Barnett Shale, North Texas USA, and has the ability to degrade a variety of straight-chain alkanes.

The two Salinisphaera strains, NCIMB 15097 Salinisphaera ulaidhensis and NCIMB 15098 Salinisphaera belfastensis, were both isolated from brine taken from the Kilroot salt mine in Northern Ireland. The Kilroot mine produces hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rock salt, which is used to de-ice roads thoroughout Ireland and the UK, and both of these strains are capable of growth at high salt concentrations.

NCIMB manages the National Collection of Industrial, Food and Marine Bacteria: the UK’s biggest repository for reference strains of environmental and industrially useful bacteria, plasmids and bacteriophages. The collection is continuously expanding as a result of new accessions from the international research community.

To purchase strains or for information on how to deposit strains with NCIMB, contact enquiries@ncimb.com or visit our website www.ncimb.com.