J. Craig Venter Institute, 4120 Capricorn Lane, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.
Alameda County Sheriff's Office, Crime Laboratory, 2901 Peralta Oaks Court, Oakland, CA, 94605, USA.
Microb Ecol. 2021 May;81(4):1098-1105. doi: 10.1007/s00248-020-01504-x. Epub 2020 May 21.
The preservation of artwork challenges museums, collectors, and art enthusiasts. Currently, reducing moisture, adjusting the type of lighting, and preventing the formation of mold are primary methods to preserving and preventing deterioration. Other methods such as ones based in detailed knowledge of molecular biology such as microbial community characterization using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing have yet to be explored. Such molecular biology approaches are essential to explore as some environmental bacteria are capable of oxidizing nonpolar chemical substances rich in hydrocarbons such as oil-based paints. Using 16S rDNA Illumina Sequencing, we demonstrate a novel finding that there are differing bacterial communities for artwork from roughly the same era when comparing paintings on wood, paintings on canvases, and sculptures made of stone and marble. We also demonstrate that there are specific genera such as Aeromonas known for having oxidase positive strains, present on paintings on wood and paintings on canvas that could potentially be responsible for deterioration and fading as such organisms produce water or hydrogen peroxide as a byproduct of cytochrome c oxidase activity. The advantages of these genomics-based approaches to characterizing the microbial population on deteriorating artwork provides immense potential by identifying potentially damaging species that may not be detected using conventional methods in addition to addressing challenges to identification, restoration, and preservation efforts.
艺术品的保存对博物馆、收藏家和艺术爱好者来说都是一个挑战。目前，减少湿度、调整照明类型以及防止霉菌形成是保存和防止劣化的主要方法。其他方法，如基于分子生物学详细知识的方法，如使用聚合酶链反应 (PCR) 和测序对微生物群落进行特征描述，尚未得到探索。这些分子生物学方法是必要的，因为有些环境细菌能够氧化富含碳氢化合物的非极性化学物质，如油性颜料。使用 16S rDNA Illumina 测序，我们证明了一个新的发现，即在比较来自大致同一时代的木制品上的画作、画布上的画作和石头和大理石制成的雕塑时，艺术品上的细菌群落存在差异。我们还证明，在木制品上的画作和画布上的画作上存在特定的属，如 Aeromonas，已知其具有氧化酶阳性菌株，这些菌株可能是导致画作劣化和褪色的原因，因为这些生物体在细胞色素 c 氧化酶活性的过程中会产生水或过氧化氢。这些基于基因组学的方法在鉴定可能损坏的物种方面具有巨大的潜力，这些物种可能无法通过传统方法检测到，同时还可以解决鉴定、修复和保存工作中的挑战。
