Introduction

Blue Biotechnology and Ecotoxicology Culture Collection (LEGE-CC) is a biological resource centre located at Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR), that comprises more than 1000 different cyanobacterial and microalgae strains.

Isolates have been obtained since 1991, from samples collected in different environments and locations. LEGE-CC strains were mainly isolated from Portuguese ecosystems (including Madeira and Azores Islands) but also from other countries worldwide (e.g. Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Morocco, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Cape Verde).

The fact that most part of our strains were obtained from Portugal associated with rich phylogenetic diversity among cyanobacteria and microalgae groups confers uniqueness to LEGE-CC.

Our strains are being screened over the years for a diverse range of purposes and targeting different applications and activities (e.g. anti-cancer, anti-biofouling, anti-microbial, anti-biofilm, anti-obesogenic and related diseases, cosmetics, food, etc.).

several studies demonstrated that our LEGE-CC stains have potential and effective capacity to produce a diverse array of metabolites, including toxins (e.g. microcystins, anatoxin, cylindrospermopsin and BMAA) or newly discovered molecules (Portoamides, Hierridin B and C, Bartolosides, Nocuolin A, etc).

LEGE-CC is member of World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC), European Culture Collections Organisation (ECCO) and it is also part of the Research Infrastructure EMBRC.PT

As other biological resource centres worldwide, LEGE-CC seeks to provide several services (e.g. provision of starter cultures for diverse purposes, isolation and identification of strains, cyanotoxins analysis, cryopreservation, training courses, etc.).