Abstract
In this study, a culture-independent Illumina MiSeq sequencing strategy was applied to investigate the microbial communities colonizing the ancient painted sculptures of the Maijishan Grottoes, a famous World Cultural Heritage site listed by UNESCO in China. Four mixed samples were collected from Cave 4–4 of the Maijishan Grottoes, the so-called Upper Seven Buddha Pavilion, which was built during the Northern Zhou Dynasty (557-581AD). The 16/18S rRNA gene-based sequences revealed a rich bacterial diversity and a relatively low fungal abundance, including the bacterial groups Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Cyanobacteria, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Verrucomicrobia and the fungal groups Ascomycota, Basidiomycota and Chytridiomycota. Among them, the bacteria genera of Pseudonocardia and Rubrobacter and unclassified fungi in the order of Capnodiales were dominant. The relative abundance of Pseudonocardia in the painted layer samples was higher than that in the dust sample, while Cyanobacteria dominated in the dust sample. Many of them have been discovered at other cultural heritage sites and associated with the biodeterioration of cultural relics. The presence and activity of these pioneering microorganisms may lead to an unexpected deterioration of the painted sculptures that are preserved in this heritage site. Thus, proper management strategies and potential risk monitoring should be used in the Maijishan Grottoes to improve the conservation of these precious painted sculptures.
Highlights
The biodeterioration of cultural heritage is a ubiquitous and inevitable phenomenon that has attracted conservators, archaeologists and scientists who are involved in the conservation of cultural heritage and relics
The results revealed a high bacterial diversity and a relatively low fungal diversity, as well as a high bacterial abundance and a low fungal abundance, on the painted sculptures of the Maijishan Grottoes
Many of the identified taxonomical groups in our report have been discovered at other cultural heritage sites
Summary
The biodeterioration of cultural heritage is a ubiquitous and inevitable phenomenon that has attracted conservators, archaeologists and scientists who are involved in the conservation of cultural heritage and relics. Microorganisms are the most diverse group of known life in the world; they occupy almost all the niches of the biosphere due to their abundant diversity, tenacious vitality and exuberant metabolism. Based on culture-dependent method, some representative functional microbial groups have been isolated from the wall paintings that are suffering from the deterioration, and abundant microbial diversity has been detected in different niches using molecular identification methods [9,10,11]. Previous studies were biased towards incompleteness due to their employed methods, core and common metabolically active microbes have been associated with biodeterioration in caves and similar niches [12,13]. Many previous studies have suggested that these microbes contribute to the deterioration process, but their roles and detailed mechanisms have not been ascertained due to a lack of research methods
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