The CMW-IA, the culture collection of Innovation Africa at the University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, is an open culture and DNA collection. It houses fungal and bacterial strains of importance in plant health in the African continent.


The CMW-IA is a sister collection to the CMW, the culture collection of the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) at the University of Pretoria. The CMW was established in 1987 as a personal research collection of Prof. Michael J. Wingfield. It has been maintained under a permit with restricted access. Fungal strains housed in the CMW are of worldwide origin and diverse sample types, including plant material, insects or soil, mainly related to tree health. It is closed to the public and exists to support various research programmes in FABI and its collaborators.