The SERI Microalgae Culture Collection was first established in 1984 by Dr. Bill Barclay to provide a central repository for strains that were believed to have potential as biomass fuel production organisms. The intent was to provide documented and partially characterized microalgal strains to researchers interested in conducting biofuels research or in developing algal mass culture technologies. The publicly available collection was described in a series of Culture Collection Catalogs published between 1984 and 1987. It was initially limited to strains that had been characterized quite extensively with respect to growth properties and chemical composition, and that were believed to hold the most promise. These catalogs contain a wealth of information for many of these strains, often including photomicrographs, proximate chemical compositions, lipid contents of cells grown under various environmental conditions, growth characteristics in different media types and different temperatures, and the results of small-scale outdoor production pond trials. Furthermore, media compositions are provided in these catalogs.

The original 1984-1985 Microalgae Culture Collection Catalog listed the following criteria for selection of strains to be placed in the cataloged public collection (in descending order of importance):

• Energy yield (growth rate x energy content)

• Type of fuel products available from biomass (hydrocarbon, diesel, alcohol, methanol)

• Environmental tolerance range (temperature, salinity, pH)

• Performance in mass culture (highly competitive, predator resistant)

• Media supplementation requirements (addition of vitamins, trace minerals)

• Amount of culture and composition data available on the clone or strain

• Budget for the culture collection

Although conceptually sound, these criteria carried with them the requirement to characterize the strains fairly extensively before a decision could be made as to whether they should be included in the collection. This detailed characterization became increasingly difficult as the number of strains available increased. As a consequence, many strains were maintained that were not officially documented in the catalogs.

From the inception of the culture collection until the late 1980s, strains in the collection were provided free of charge to anyone who requested them, with the hope that the research conducted (and published) using these strains would increase the overall understanding of these organisms.

Many laboratories took advantage of this. In the first year after the publication of the SERI Microalgae Culture Collection Catalog, more than 100 cultures were shipped to various groups studying biofuels production, natural product discovery, aquaculture, and the general physiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology of microalgae. In the ensuing years, hundreds of additional cultures were provided to researchers free of charge. Then, in the early 1990s, concerns were raised by the SERI Legal Department that the cultures should be considered as valuable intellectual property, and a moratorium was placed on providing cultures to outside parties; this moratorium persisted until the ASP were eliminated in late 1995.

The SERI Microalgae Culture Collection consists almost exclusively of eukaryotic, single-celled microalgae. Included in the collection are members of several algal classes, with a predominance of chlorophytes (green algae) and diatoms. These two groups tended to dominate under the high temperature/high light screening and selection regimes used to identify good production strain candidates. Of the strains present in the final culture catalog produced (published in 1987, including an addendum), 26% were chlorophytes, 60% were diatoms, 8% were chrysophytes, and 6% were eustigmatophytes. The following pages list the strains described in each of the three culture collection catalogs published during the course of the ASP.

The first culture collection catalog (1984-1985) listed 11 strains, which included five chlorophytes, four diatoms, one chrysophyte, and one eustigmatophyte. Some of these strains were obtained from other culture collections, including the University of Texas algal culture collection. The strains listed in the original 1984-1985catalog were as follows: