UKHSA Priority Pathogens Reference Organisms
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has published a Priority Pathogens Reference Tool which is intended to help guide research and development in the UK. It provides information on pathogen families where the UKHSA believes further research would be most beneficial to boost preparedness against infectious disease around diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics.
TEM image of NCPV 1409231v MERS Coronavirus
UKHSA Culture Collections are the repositories for authenticated biological reference material including eukaryotic cell lines and bacterial, viral and fungal strains. In tandem with the publication of the UKHSA Priority Pathogens Reference Tool, UKHSA Culture Collections have collated information on the relevant pathogenic bacteria and viruses which are available from its repositories listed below:
Table 1: Viral strains available from the National Collection of Pathogenic Viruses (NCPV)
Notable Pathogen |
Disease |
Materials Available (Including Catalogue Identifiers) |
Human adenovirus (B, C, E, F) |
Adenovirus infection |
Over 30 different strains of human adenovirus available (grown in ECACC cell line 85120602 or 86012804) |
Lassa virus |
Lassa fever |
Please enquire regarding availability for users with appropriate CL4/BSL-4 containment facilities |
Norovirus |
Norovirus infection |
|
MERS-CoV |
MERS |
1409231v - MERS-CoV strain "England 1" (Grown in ECACC cell line 08011101) |
Ebola virus |
Ebola virus disease |
Please enquire regarding availability for users with appropriate CL4/BSL-4 containment facilities |
Sudan virus |
Sudan virus disease |
Please enquire regarding availability for users with appropriate CL4/BSL-4 containment facilities |
Marburg virus |
Marburg virus disease |
Please enquire regarding availability for users with appropriate CL4/BSL-4 containment facilities |
Dengue virus |
Dengue |
10 distinct strains covering all four Dengue virus serogrups. |
Zika virus |
Zika |
1308258v - Zika virus strain "MP1751" 1604131v - Zika virus strain "PRVABC59" 1609021v - Zika virus strain "PHE_semen_Guadeloupe" (Grown in ECACC cell line 84113001) |
Hepatitis C virus |
Hepatitis C |
Currently unavailable |
Hantaan virus |
Haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) |
0006112v - Hantaan virus strain 76/118 (Grown in ECACC cells 85020206) |
CCHF virus |
Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic fever |
Please enquire regarding availability for users with appropriate CL4/BSL-4 containment facilities |
Non-seasonal influenza |
Flu |
10 distinct strains of influenza A, one strain of influenza B |
Nipah virus |
Nipah virus infection |
Please enquire regarding availability for users with appropriate CL4/BSL-4 containment facilities |
Oropouche virus |
Oropouche fever |
1409261v - Oropouche virus 1811021v - Oropouche virus strain "OROV/EC/Esmeraldas/087/2016" (Grown in ECACC cell line 84113001) |
Rift Valley fever virus |
Rift Valley fever |
1202191v - Rift Valley fever virus strain "h85/09" 0310122v - Rift Valley fever virus (Grown in ECACC cell line 84113001) |
SFTS virus |
Severe fever with thrombo-cytopenia virus syndrome |
Currently unavailable |
Enterovirus D68, A71 |
Acute flaccid myelitis |
2210112v - Enterovirus D-68 (Grown in ECACC cell line 85111502) 0812214/5/7/8v Enterovirus 71 (Grown in ECACC cell line 85111502) |
Human metapneuomovirus |
hMPV infection |
Deposit is being accessioned |
Monkeypox virus (clade I) |
Mpox |
2206091v Clade IIb 2022 (Grown in ECACC 85020206) 2301231v Irradiated Clade IIb 2022 (Hazard group 2) Clade I is being accessioned |
Chikungunya virus |
Chikungunya |
17051701v - Chikungunya virus strain "Guatemala/RIPL/8485" 0811301v - Chikungunya virus strain "D5523/06" 0704221v - Chikungunya virus (Grown in ECACC cell line 84113001) |
Table 2: Bacterial strains available from the National Collection of Type Cultures (NCTC)
Bacterial family |
Notable pathogen |
Disease |
Materials Available (Including Catalogue Identifiers) |
Bacillaceae |
Bacillus anthracis |
Anthrax |
7 distinct strains of Bacillus anthracis |
Entreobacteriaceae |
Klebsiella pneumoniae |
Pneumonia, bloodstream and wound infections |
148 distinct strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae, including numerous antimicrobial resistant strains |
Escherichia coli (ETEC, STEC, EPEC) |
Gastro-intestinal disease, HUS |
STEC NCTC 12079 Escherichia coli NCTC 12080 Escherichia coli ETEC NCTC 11601 Escherichia coli NCTC 11602 Escherichia coli |
|
Escherichia coli (UPEC) |
Cystitis, Pyelonephritis |
NCTC 13441 Escherichia coli 390 additional distinct strains of Escherichia coli |
|
Yersinia pestis |
Plague |
12 distinct strains of Yersinia pestis |
|
Francisellacae |
Francisella tularensis |
Tularaemia |
NCTC 10857 Francisella tularensis subsp. holartica |
Moraxellaceae |
Acinetobacter baumannii |
Pneumonia, bloodstream infections, UTI |
27 distinct strains of Acinetobacter baumannii, including numerous antimicrobial resistant strains |
Neisseriaceae |
Neisseria gonorrhoeae |
Gonorrhoea |
49 distinct strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, including numerous antimicrobial resistant strains and the 2024 WHO Neisseria gonorrhoeae reference strain panel |
Staphylococcaceae |
Staphylococcus aureus |
Cellulitis, Endocarditis, Pneumonia |
NCTC 13636 Meticillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus NCTC 14245 Meticillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus USA300 lineage 208 other distinct strains of Staphylococcus aureus |
Streptococcaceae |
Group A Strep |
Pharyngitis, Impetigo, Scarlet fever, Septicaemia |
NCTC 14935 Streptococcus pyogenes M1UK lineage NCTC 14936 Streptococcus pyogenes M1global lineage 101 other distinct strains of Streptococcus pyogenes |
Group B Strep |
Chorioamnionitis, Pneumonia, Meningitis, Septicaemia |
77 distinct strains of Streptococcus agalactiae |
|
Streptococcus pneumoniae |
Pneumonia, Meningitis |
NCTC 14143 Streptococcus pnuemoniae (multi-drug resistant) NCTC 14078 Streptococcus pneumoniae (highly characterised model organism) 42 other distinct Streptococcus pneumoniae strains from diverse serotype that are both represented and not represented in pneumococcal vaccines |
The biological materials listed above are a small sub-selection of the biological materials available from UKHSA Culture Collections. The full catalogue can be searched here.
Whole genome sequence data are available for many NCTC bacterial strains. The details can be found in Dicks J, et al. NCTC3000: a century of bacterial strain collecting leads to a rich genomic data resource. Microb Genom. 2023 May;9(5):mgen000976.
UKHSA Culture Collections staff are subject matter experts and can be contacted with any enquiry regarding the curated biological materials described here.
References