The worm community continues to be quite generous with their strains, and the CGC collection is growing at a record pace: we’ve added more than 4,500 strains in the past two years and we are proud to note that our collection is currently composed of more than 18,000 strains. The CGC actively seeks alleles of genes not currently represented in the collection and unusual alleles of already represented genes, as well as useful new deficiencies and balancers. Other types of strains are also welcomed into the collection. However, we simply cannot accept every strain labs would like to send us, nor can we accept entire lab collections when a laboratory closes down. Ensuring that we have the infrastructure in place to maintain and store the collection as it rapidly expands is a growing concern. We ask your cooperation as we become more selective about which strains will be added to the CGC collection.

Beginning August 1, 2013, we require a Strain Review Form to be submitted and approved prior to sending strains to the CGC. This new system will help us streamline our operation and ensure each strain has complete information including a genotype that conforms to the accepted nomenclature rules. A primarily focus is to eliminate/avoid redundancies in the collection; so, for example, please do not submit multiple lines of the same transgene unless there is a compelling reason to do so.

A new CGC website is in development that will include an on-line strain donation form, but in the meantime, we have made a downloadable template available on our website. If you have a strain that you would like to donate to the CGC, please complete a Strain Review Form (available at https://www.cbs.umn.edu/cgc/sending-strains) and email it to [email protected] for approval BEFORE sending the strains. You will be asked to provide complete genotypic and phenotypic information using proper C.elegans nomenclature (http://www.wormbase.org/about/userguide/nomenclature) and a brief justification for why the strain should be added to the CGC. We will evaluate the requests and reply with our decision as quickly as possible.

Thank you for your cooperation. We look forward to continuing to serve the worm community.

Aric Daul & the CGC Staff