= Culture collection
A <culture collection> maintains documented living cultures of <microorganisms> for later study and comparison. Its scientific resource consists of both the biological material and the records connecting that material to its origin, identity and measured properties. <Microbial culture preservation> maintains recoverable material, while <microbial culture authentication> investigates whether it is the intended <strain (biology)>.<Guidelines for the Establishment and Operation of Collections of Cultures of Microorganisms by the World Federation for Culture Collections>[third edition, February 2010; sections 7, 8 and 11, preservation, authentication and documentation]{ref}
These functions support reproducibility. A reported effect can be tested on a documented reference rather than on an organism identified only by an informal description. A <type strain> has an additional nomenclatural role, but a <culture collection> can also maintain other research strains.<Guidelines for the Establishment and Operation of Collections of Cultures of Microorganisms by the World Federation for Culture Collections>[sections 5 and 8, holdings and accurately identified reference material]{ref}
Identity and viability are distinct endpoints. In an invented inspection of twenty stored cultures, suppose eighteen yield viable growth and seventeen of those eighteen match the intended identity. The observed recovery fraction is $18/20=90\%$, the matching fraction among recovered cultures is $17/18\approx94.4\%$, and the fraction passing both checks is $17/20=85\%$. Reporting just one percentage would conceal which question was tested. These counts illustrate assessment, rather than collection performance data.
ATCC's own account combines morphological, biochemical and genotypic characterization when assessing its prokaryotic materials. Such complementary observations test more than whether a tube produces growth.<Authentication of Prokaryotes at ATCC by ATCC>[Morphology and purity; Biochemical analyses; Genotypic characterization]{ref} A <culture collection> consequently provides a connection between a named biological reference and material that another laboratory can actually examine.
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