Resin straw as an alternative system to securely store frozen microorganisms

Freezing of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms is the main interest in the study of cold stress responses of living organisms. In parallel, applications which arise from this approach are of two types: (i) optimization of the frozen starters used in food processing; and (ii) improvement of the ex situ preservation of microorganisms in collections. Currently, cryopreservation of microorganisms in collections is carried out in cryotubes, and bibliographical references related to freezing microorganisms packaged in straws are scarce. In this context, a preliminary study was completed to evaluate the technological potential of ionomeric resin straws compared to polycarbonate cryo-tubes. Survival under freezing stress was tested on three microorganisms selected for their biotechnological interest: two lactic acid bacteria, Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and a deuteromycete fungus, Geotrichum candidum. The stress was carried out by repeated freezing–thawing cycles to artificially accelerate the lethal effect of freezing on the microorganisms. Two main results were obtained: (i) the survival rate values (per freezing–thawing cycle) seems to depend on the thermal type of the studied microorganism, and (ii) there was no, under our experimental conditions, significant difference between straws and tubes. However, conservation in the resin straws lead to a slight increase in the survival of L. cremoris and G. candidum compared to microtubes. In those conditions, straws seems an alternative system to securely store frozen microorganisms with three main characteristics: (i) a high resistance to thermal stress, (ii) a safe closing by hermetic weld, and (iii) a system for inviolable identification.