Our History

Sampling diary of Prof. Roberto Taddei
Page containing notes on the observations and surveys carried out on April 16th, 1976, in the sulfurous ponds area of Mount Bischero, an extreme environment sampled for microalgae.The Algae Collection (ACUF) at the Department of Biology of the University of Naples (Federico II) was founded in 1974 by Professors Roberto Taddei, Gabriele Pinto and Patrizia Albertano and was initially planned as a collection of Cyanidium caldarium strains from different acid-thermal sites of Italy. The collection is represented by more than 950 strains, mostly belonging to the Cyanobacteria, Chlorophyta and Rhodophyta. Extremophilic algae (thermo-acidophilic and acidotolerant strains isolated from European and extra-European acidic sites) are well represented (over 500 strains).

General information

Currently, almost all genera and species of Cyanidiophytina are maintained in culture, with particular emphasis on the genus Galdieria. Most of the strains have been isolated by the ACUF team, some have been deposited by other researchers or obtained from culture collections (D’Elia et al 2018). The majority of strains are available to the public. ACUF is an associate member of the MIRRI-IT JRU, (Italian Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure), which in turn is a country member of MIRRI-ERIC, the pan-European distributed Research Infrastructure for the preservation, systematic investigation, provision and valorization of microbial resources and biodiversity.  

ACUF has been one of the Operative Units of the project SUS-MIRRI (2023-2025) funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) to increase the bioresources stored at MIRRI-IT Research Infrastructures (website of the project: https://www.sus-mirri.it/).

Staff – UNINA

 Research fellows & graduate students

EElena Aurino
Luca De Crescenzo
Angelo Del Mondo
Marzia Licata
Luigi Marra
Nunzia Nappi
Feliciana Oliva
Domenico Palatucci
Maria Gioia Petraretti  

EXTERNAL MEMBER

Claudia Ciniglia – Cyanidiophytina Taxonomy and Phylogeny