The BCCM/ULC collection to conserve the biodiversity and study the secondary metabolites of Antarctic cyanobacteria

The BCCM/ULC public collection is funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office since 2011. A Quality Management System ensures that the services of deposits (both public and safe) and distribution are well documented and efficient for the clients’ satisfaction. It has obtained the ISO 9001 certification for deposition and distribution of strains, as part of the multi-site certification for the BCCM consortium. This collection aims to gather a representative portion of the Antarctic cyanobacterial diversity with different ecological origins (limnetic mats, soil crusts, cryoconites, endoliths…) and make it available for researchers to study the taxonomy, evolution, adaptations to harsh environmental conditions, pigments, and genomic make-up. It presently includes 216 cyanobacterial strains, of which 119 are of Antarctic origin (catalogue: http://bccm.belspo.be/catalogues/ulc-catalogue-search). In addition, cyanobacteria are known to produce a wide range of secondary metabolites (e.g. alkaloids, cyclic and linear peptides, polyketides) with bioactive potential. Genome sequencing of 11 strains has been started to enable genome mining for biosynthetic clusters. Pair-read data from illumina MiSeq runs were obtained and submitted to a bioinformatic pipeline dedicated to the assembly of genomes and search of sequences involved in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. Gene cluster prediction analysis allowed to characterize 20 clusters of NRPS, PKS and hybrid NRPS-PKS from 2 to 66kb. Surprisingly, none of the characterized operons had previously been described in the literature.