BEIJING, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- China has helped elevate microbe research in the past few years, according to a report on microbial resources released on Tuesday.

The report on China's microbial resource development was issued by the World Data Center for Microorganisms and the microbial resource and data center under the Institute of Microbiology of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The total number of microbial strains preserved and shared by China's 33 major microbial preservation centers is 182,000 at present, ranking fourth around the world, it said.

Meanwhile, the number of theses in the field published in 2015 grew 17.8 times from 2001, said the report, adding cited papers are also on the rise.

Microbe research is a rising field in bioscience and China should continue boosting the exploration and protection of its microbial resources, said Ma Juncai, director of the microbial resource and data center.