One of the long term objectives of both the Molecular Biology and the Bioinformatics Departments at the ATCC is to optimize methods to operate a repository to support genomic mapping efforts. Clones must be freely available to compare data among laboratories, the overlapping clones identified in physical mapping studies must be accessible for additional research and sequencing. A public repository best serves these needs of the scientific community by amplifying, preserving, and distributing the clones and providing information about them. Although several aspects of the operation of a genomic repository are currently being developed at the ATCc, this proposal addresses two areas requiring additional attention. One is to increase the efficiency of maintaining information about its holdings by (1) identifying the most useful set of data to be stored and the sources for obtaining that data, (2) establishing links to other databases and (3) storing pointers to related information not maintained by the repository. These procedures will be developed using the genetic materials already in collections at the ATCc, which include clones from the genomes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, mouse, and man. The other area is to investigate the suitability of various methods of preservation and packaging formats for plasmid- and cosmid-containing E. coli strains, bacteriophage lambda clones, artificial chromosome-containing S. cerevisiae clones, and any other appropriate host/vector system which is developed during the grant period. Methods will be evaluated for their effects on clone stability, host genetic stability, and viability during storage. Automation using laboratory robotics will be developed for the preservation and packaging procedures.