Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INRAE, VetAgro Sup, UMR Ecologie Microbienne, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France.
Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INRAE, VetAgro Sup, UMR Ecologie Microbienne, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Apr 10;816:151492. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151492. Epub 2021 Nov 15.
Microorganisms colonize caves extensively, and in caves open for tourism they may cause alterations on wall surfaces. This is a major concern in caves displaying Paleolithic art, which is usually fragile and may be irremediably damaged by microbial alterations. Therefore, many caves were closed for preservation purposes, e.g. Lascaux (France), Altamira (Spain), while others were never opened to the public to avoid microbial contamination, e.g. Chauvet Cave (France), etc. The recent development of high-throughput sequencing technologies allowed several descriptions of cave microbial diversity and prompted the writing of this review, which focuses on the cave microbiome for the three domains of life (Bacteria, Archaea, microeukaryotes), the impact of tourism-related anthropization on microorganisms in Paleolithic caves, and the development of microbial alterations on the walls of these caves. This review shows that the microbial phyla prevalent in pristine caves are similar to those evidenced in water, soil, plant and metazoan microbiomes, but specificities at lower taxonomic levels remain to be clarified. Most of the data relates to Bacteria and Fungi, while other microeukaryotes and Archaea are poorly documented. Tourism may cause shifts in the microbiota of Paleolithic caves, but larger-scale investigation are required as these shifts may differ from one cave to the next. Finally, different types of alterations can occur in caves, especially in Paleolithic caves. Many microorganisms potentially involved have been identified, but diversity analyses of these alterations have not always included a comparison with neighboring unaltered zones as controls, making such associations uncertain. It is expected that omics technologies will also allow a better understanding of the functional diversities of the cave microbiome. This will be needed to decipher microbiome dynamics in response to touristic frequentation, to guide cave management, and to identify the most appropriate reclamation approaches to mitigate microbial alterations in tourist Paleolithic caves.
微生物广泛定植于洞穴中，在开放给游客的洞穴中，它们可能会导致洞穴壁面发生改变。这在展示旧石器时代艺术的洞穴中是一个主要关注点，因为这些洞穴中的艺术作品通常非常脆弱，可能会因微生物改变而造成无法挽回的损坏。因此，为了保存目的，许多洞穴被关闭，例如法国的拉斯科洞穴、西班牙的阿尔塔米拉洞穴等；而另一些洞穴则从未向公众开放，以避免微生物污染，例如法国的肖维洞穴等。高通量测序技术的最新发展使人们能够对洞穴微生物多样性进行多次描述，并促使人们撰写了这篇综述，该综述重点介绍了生命的三个领域（细菌、古菌、微型真核生物）在洞穴中的微生物组，以及与旅游业相关的人类活动对旧石器时代洞穴中微生物的影响，以及这些洞穴壁面微生物改变的发展。本综述表明，原始洞穴中占优势的微生物门与水、土壤、植物和后生动物微生物组中发现的微生物门相似，但在较低的分类学水平上的特异性仍有待阐明。大多数数据与细菌和真菌有关，而其他微型真核生物和古菌的记录较少。旅游业可能会导致旧石器时代洞穴中的微生物群落发生变化，但需要进行更大规模的调查，因为这些变化可能因洞穴而异。最后，不同类型的改变可能会发生在洞穴中，尤其是在旧石器时代的洞穴中。已经鉴定出许多可能涉及的微生物，但这些改变的多样性分析并不总是包括与未受影响的相邻区域的比较作为对照，因此这些关联不确定。预计组学技术也将使人们更好地理解洞穴微生物组的功能多样性。这将有助于了解洞穴微生物群对旅游频繁光顾的动态响应，指导洞穴管理，并确定减轻游客旧石器时代洞穴中微生物改变的最合适的修复方法。
