Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment, Via della Navicella, 2-4, 00184, Rome, Italy.
Life Sciences Department, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 5BD, London, UK.
Environ Microbiol. 2020 Jan;22(1):59-75. doi: 10.1111/1462-2920.14818. Epub 2019 Nov 28.
Large skeleton specimens are often featured as iconic open displays in Natural History Museums, for example, the blue whale 'Hope' at the Natural History Museum, London. A study on Hope's bone surface was performed to assess the biodeterioration potential of fungi. Fungi were isolated, and a fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) clone library survey was performed on dust and bone material. Mineral particles derived from bone and dust were analysed using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, variable pressure scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high vacuum SEM. Results showed that bone material, although mainly mineral in nature, and therefore less susceptible than organic materials to biodeterioration phenomena in the indoor environments, offers niches for specialized fungi and is affected by unusual and yet not so well-documented mechanisms of alteration. Areas of bone surface were covered with a dense biofilm mostly composed of fungal hyphae, which produced tunnelling and extensive deposition of calcium and iron-containing secondary minerals. Airborne halophilic and xerophilic fungi including taxa grouping into Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, capable of displacing salts and overcome little water availability, were found to dominate the microbiome of the bone surface.
大型骨骼标本经常作为自然历史博物馆的标志性开放式展品展出，例如伦敦自然历史博物馆的蓝鲸“Hope”。对 Hope 的骨骼表面进行了一项研究，以评估真菌的生物降解潜力。分离了真菌，并对灰尘和骨骼材料进行了真菌内部转录间隔区 (ITS) 克隆文库调查。使用能量色散 X 射线光谱、可变压力扫描电子显微镜 (SEM) 和高真空 SEM 分析了源自骨骼和灰尘的矿物质颗粒。结果表明，骨骼材料虽然主要是矿物质，因此比有机材料更不容易受到室内环境中生物降解现象的影响，但为专门的真菌提供了小生境，并受到不那么常见且记录不佳的改变机制的影响。骨骼表面的一些区域覆盖着一层密集的生物膜，主要由真菌菌丝组成，这些菌丝会产生隧道，并广泛沉积钙和含铁的次生矿物。空气中的嗜盐菌和耐旱菌包括归入子囊菌和担子菌的分类群，能够取代盐分并克服水分不足，被发现主导着骨骼表面微生物组的优势地位。
