Repositories are indispensable in preserving the diversity of natural habitats, pro­tecting genetic material, and providing basic resources for research. At present, only a few major algal collection centers exist in the United States and other countries. They currently maintain thousands of different algal strains and support the research and industrial community with their expertise in algae biology. The function of a culture collection often transcends simple depository functions. They may also sup­port research on determining strain characteristics, cryopreservation, and phylogeny, either by themselves or in connection with outside collaborators. Currently, no cen­tral database exists that provides global information on the characteristics of cur­rently available algal strains. Protection of intellectual property in private industry has further exacerbated the flow of relevant strain data. Some minimal growth infor­mation is available from existing culture collections, but it is very difficult to obtain more detailed information on growth, metabolites, and the robustness of particular existing strains. The establishment of a central strain, open-access repository could accelerate research on algae-based biofuel production systems.

Above all, it is certain that many algal strains in established collections have been cultivated for several decades, and some may have lost their original properties, such as mating capability or versatility regarding nutrient requirements. To obtain ver­satile and robust strains that can be used for mass culture in biofuel applications, it would be prudent to consider the isolation of new native strains directly from unique environments. For both direct breeding and metabolic engineering approaches to improve biofuels production, it will be important to isolate a wide variety of algae for assembly into a culture collection that will serve as a bioresource for further algal biofuel research.