Coelho Catarina, Mesquita Nuno, Costa Inês, Soares Fabiana, Trovão João, Freitas Helena, Portugal António, Tiago Igor
Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal.
Microorganisms. 2021 Mar 30;9(4):709. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms9040709.
The "University of Coimbra-Alta and Sofia" area was awarded the UNESCO World Heritage Site distinction in 2013. The Old Cathedral of Coimbra, a 12th-century limestone monument located in this area, has been significantly impacted during the last 800 years by physical, chemical, and biological processes. This led to the significant deterioration of some of its structures and carvings, with loss of aesthetical, cultural, and historical values. For this work, deteriorated spots of the walls of three semi-open chapels from the cloister of the Cathedral were sampled to ascertain their bacterial and archaeal structural diversity. Based on Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) result analysis, we report the presence of microbial populations that are well adapted to an ecosystem with harsh conditions and that can establish a diverse biofilm in most cases. While it was possible to determine dominant phylogenetic groups in and domains, there was no clear connection between specific core microbiomes and the different deterioration patterns analyzed. The distribution of these archaeal and bacterial communities within the analyzed biodeterioration spots suggests they are more influenced by abiotic factors (i.e., water availability, salinity, etc.), although they influence (and are influenced by) the algal and fungal population composition in this ecosystem. This work provides valuable information that can assist in establishing future guidelines for the preservation and conservation of this kind of historic stone monuments.
“科英布拉 - 阿尔塔和索菲亚大学”区域于2013年被联合国教科文组织授予世界遗产称号。位于该区域的科英布拉老教堂是一座12世纪的石灰岩古迹，在过去800年里受到物理、化学和生物过程的显著影响。这导致其部分结构和雕刻严重受损，美学、文化和历史价值丧失。在这项工作中，对大教堂回廊三个半开放式小教堂墙壁的受损部位进行了采样，以确定其细菌和古菌的结构多样性。基于下一代测序（NGS）结果分析，我们报告了存在适应恶劣条件生态系统且在大多数情况下能形成多样生物膜的微生物种群。虽然有可能确定细菌和古菌域中的优势系统发育类群，但特定核心微生物群与所分析的不同劣化模式之间没有明确联系。这些古菌和细菌群落在所分析的生物劣化部位的分布表明，它们受非生物因素（即水的可利用性、盐度等）影响更大，尽管它们也影响（并受影响）该生态系统中的藻类和真菌种群组成。这项工作提供了有价值的信息，有助于为这类历史石质古迹的保护和保存制定未来指导方针。
