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Background and Design.- The storage and maintenance of stock-culture collection of fungi serves to research and educational fonctions of specialized mycolgy laboratories. Several methods have been proposed for maintaining culture collections of fungi. In this study a general collection of stock cultures consisting of several hyaline, dematiaceous molds, dermatophytes and dimorphic primary pathogens and yeasts and yeast-like fungi has been stored at room temperatures and in a refrigerator and in a deep freezer for three years by frequent subculturing.
Results.- 170 of 216 strains maintained at +4°C, 18 of 212 strains maintained at +20°C and 105 of 154 strains kept in -20°C survived the entire three year period. Both of the two methods maintain the original characters of the strains and require approximately equal time, equipment, material and space. The room temperatures storage method has been eliminated due to risk of mit contamination.
Conclusion.- Keeping stock cultures at +4°C appears to be the most convenient method for our laboratory conditions and also the composition of our actual collection.