Importance

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Abstract

The invention is directed to compositions and methods for collecting, transporting, and storing microorganisms obtained from samples of biological, clinical, forensic, and environmental origin. Compositions preserve the viability of the collected organisms, permit long-term storage, and are compatible with subsequent manipulation including propagation and culture of collected microorganisms, or isolation, purification, detection, and characterization of proteins, nucleic acids and macromolecules. When the compositions containing microorganisms and polynucleotides therein are further processed, such as by nucleic acid testing, there is an increased ability to detect, isolate, purify and/or characterize select microbes and their components, when compared to conventional microbial transport media that contain interfering substance(s). In particular formulations, the compositions allow biological samples to be collected, transported, and even stored for extended periods, and are compatible with nucleic acid extraction, identification, quantitation, PCR amplification, and genomic analysis methodologies.

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First Claim