[The Petergof genetic collection of microorganisms].

The Petergof Genetic Collection (PGC) of microalgae was created in the 1960s during study of the regularities of mutational processes. A collection of yeasts has been maintained at the Department of Genetics and Selection of St. Petersburg State University since 1977. This collection contains some 1000 genetically marked strains of the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia methanolica, and the algae collection comprises about 600 strains of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Chlorella vulgaris, and Scenedesmus obliquus. The structure of the collection and the employment of strains in basic and applied research, as well as for educational purposes, are discussed. On the basis of the original software GENESTRAIN, a yeast PGC database (DB) was developed. A visual interface that contains information about selection of Ch. reinhardtii strains and crosses made was created in the HyperCard operational system.