The 15th National Symposium on Microbial Resources was successfully held in Chengdu, Sichuan province from July 28 to 31, 2024. The event was jointly organized by the Committee of Microbial Resources (CMR) of the Chinese Society for Microbiology (CSM), which is affiliated with the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning (IARRP) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), the Biogas Institute of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Biotechnology Research Institute of CAAS, and the Sichuan Society of Microbiology. Liang Bo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of IARRP, attended the meeting and delivered a speech.

The symposium received high attention from microbial resource experts nationwide. Notable attendees included Xu Jianguo, President of the CSM, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; Deng Zixin, Honorary President of the CSM, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Zhao Guoping, former President of the CSM, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Wu Qingping, Executive Director of the CSM, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; Yao Bin, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; Li Yuezhong, Vice President of the CSM and Yang Haihua, Executive Deputy Secretary-General of the CSM. A total of 656 representatives from 225 units across 31 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) attended the meeting.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Ruan Zhiyong, Director of the CMR of CSM. On behalf of Xu Jianguo, Yang Haihua, extended congratulations on the conference's success and warmly welcomed the attending experts and representatives. Liang Bo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission, delivered a speech on behalf of the hosting unit, emphasizing that microbial resources, as a critical national strategic resource, have always been a key research focus of the institute. He also mentioned that as the leading unit of the National Microbial Resource Center, they are actively promoting the establishment of a national agricultural microbial resource protection and utilization system. Although China is a major country in microbial resources, it is not yet a strong one. Liang Bo expressed hope that the experts and representatives attending the symposium would use this opportunity to strengthen academic exchanges and cooperation, supporting major national strategic needs and jointly advancing China's microbial resources.

Vice Chairman of the Sichuan Association for Science and Technology Xu Yong and Director of the Chengdu Biogas Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Meng Haibo delivered speeches, congratulating the success of the symposium and thanking the attendees. They expressed the hope that the participating experts and representatives would strengthen communication, offer constructive suggestions, and contribute wisdom and strength to the protection and innovative application of China's microbial resources in biomanufacturing.

During the keynote presentations, Academicians Xu Jianguo, Deng Zixin, Zhao Guoping, Wu Qingping, and Yao Bin delivered outstanding academic reports titled "The Vast Unknown Microorganisms in the Human Living Environment" "Exploring the Potential of Synthetic Biology to Empower the Transformation and Upgrade of the Health Industry" "The Sample/Data Governance System of Microbial Resources—The 'Key Project' for Converting to New Productive Forces" "Creation and Application of the Chinese Microbial Safety and Health Science Database" and "AI-Driven Technological Innovation in Feed Enzymes" respectively. The experts discussed the critical role of microbial resources in health, industry, data, and technological innovation from different perspectives, providing valuable insights and ideas for the future research and application of microbial resources.

Eighteen distinguished scholars, including Professor Zhang Xian'en from Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology/Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Wei Gehong from Northwest A&F University, Professor Zhou Xuedong from Sichuan University, Professor Cheng Guoqiang from Tsinghua University, Professor Liu Shuangjiang from Shandong University/Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Yang Ruifu from the Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Professor William B. Whitman from the University of Georgia, Professor Zhao Bin from Huazhong Agricultural University, Professor Li Shengying from Shandong University, Professor Zhang Dawei from the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Zhang Xiaoxia from the IARRP of CAAS, Professor Jiang Daohong from Huazhong Agricultural University, Professor Zhou Zhigang from the Biotechnology Research Institute of CAAS, Professor Li Wenjun from Sun Yat-sen University, Professor Xing Xinhui from Tsinghua University, Professor Shu Wensheng from South China Normal University, Professor Ma Bin from Zhejiang University, and Professor Cheng Lei from the Biogas Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, presented keynote reports. Additionally, 75 scholars, including Associate Professor Gu Jingang from the IARRP of CAAS, Professor Yao Su from the China National Research Institute of Food&Fermentation Industries, and Professor Peng Fang from Wuhan University, delivered specialized reports on themes such as microbial resource security and germplasm resource bank construction, frontier technologies in microbial isolation and culture, systematic taxonomy, synthetic biology and biomanufacturing, microbial resources and the revitalization of the microbial seed industry, microbial genetic metabolism, and functional diversity. The symposium also featured poster presentations, with ten students, including Qiao Jiaqi from Inner Mongolia Agricultural University and Zhou Qiong from the IARRP of CAAS being awarded for outstanding posters.

During the symposium, the CMR of CSM held a full committee meeting. Ruan Zhiyong presented a report on the work of the CMR of CSM for 2023-2024. The committee members discussed and exchanged views on the committee's work over the past year and plans for the future, and Zhang Xiaoxia presented a report on initiating the Agricultural Microbiome Atlas Project @Single Cell (Agri-MAPs). After the full committee meeting, Gu Jingang, Secretary of the Party Work Group of the CMR of CSM, chaired a meeting of all attending Party members. They collectively studied the communique of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, discussed the committee's annual work summary report, reviewed the current status and development of China's microbial resources work, and reached a consensus on continuing to strengthen the organization of academic, popular science, and training activities, planning action guidelines for the microbial resources field, and promoting the standardization of related work.