The ATCC Protistology Collection is the only general service collection of taxonomically diverse living stock protists in the United States, housing approximately 2600 strains (including 265 strains of algae) representing nearly 750 species and 340 genera. It is also the only large service repository of parasitic protozoa in the world. Cultures within the collection are fully authenticated using both morphological and molecular techniques, including observation and identification of live and stained specimens under light microscopy, PCR and sequencing of SSU rDNA or other genetic markers.

Protistology Collection Features

Living Stock Protists ATCC offers cultures from a diverse collection of Protists from the six major taxonomic supergroups. Photo courtesy Janice Haney Carr, CDC

Protozoan Culture Media ATCC offers a variety of protozoa culture media to support the growth of either xenic or axenic cultures.

Protozoan Nucleic Acids ATCC offers pre-packaged nucleic acids from several parasitic protozoa strains in concentrations great enough to perform PCR.

Eumycetozoan Project Strains Commonly referred to as "slime molds" and historically studied by mycologists, the Eumycetozoans are a monophyletic group of terrestrial amoeboid protists that produce aerial spore-bearing structures.

Collection Highlight

Recent acquisitions in the ATCC Protistology Collection include a number of pathogenic parasite strains used in antimicrobial susceptibility assays and genomic studies.

Taxonomic Representation¹

	Rhizaria ATCC holdings include genera such as Heteromita, Cercomonas, Thaumatomonas, and Biomyxa.
	Opisthokonta ATCC  holdings include genera such as Sphaerothecum, Encephalitozoon, Nosema, and Salpingoeca.
	Archaeplastida ATCC  holdings include genera such as Prototheca, Chlorella, Chlamydomonas, Polytoma, and Cephaleuros.
	Amoebozoa ATCC holdings include genera such as Entamoeba, Acanthamoeba, Hyperamoeba, Hartmannella, and Spongomonas.
	Excavata ATCC  holdings include genera such as Crithidia, Leishmania, Trypanosoma, Leptomonas, Euglena, Naegleria, Trichomonas, and Giardia.
	Chromalveolata ATCC  holdings include genera such as Plasmodium, Toxoplasma, Tetrahymena, Paramecium, Adriamonas, and Goniomonas.

¹Taxonomic Classification based on Adl, SM. J. Eukaryot. Microbiol. 52: 399-451, 2005.