Haedar Nur, Zhafirah Nur Afifah, Wardhani Riuh, Abdullah Asadi, Lebe Rustan, Gani Fuad
Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Hasanuddin, Makassar, South Sulawesi 90245, Indonesia.
Division of Animal and Dairy Science, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Republic of Korea.
J Microbiol Biotechnol. 2025 Feb 20;35:e2410019. doi: 10.4014/jmb.2410.10019.
The Maros-Pangkep karst region hosts prehistoric cave paintings recognized by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage site. The presence of calcium carbonate (CaCO) on the surface of these artworks suggests the involvement of carbonatogenic bacteria, which facilitate CaCO production or deposition. While these bacteria have been explored for their potential in stone artwork conservation, their role in either preserving or obscuring prehistoric paintings remains unclear. This study aims to identify carbonatogenic bacteria associated with the Maros-Pangkep cave paintings and evaluate their CaCO precipitation potential. Bacteria were isolated using Calcium Carbonate Precipitation (CCP) medium, and their CaCO precipitation capacity was assessed by measuring precipitate mass and ammonia (NH) levels. Molecular identification was conducted using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Eighteen bacterial isolates were obtained from swab samples collected in Parewe and Bulu Sipong caves, ten of which were identified as carbonatogenic. Among these, two isolates exhibited the highest CaCO precipitation: Ps1-d produced 2.45 ± 0.07 mg/ml CaCO with 946.3 ± 26.3 mg/l NH, while Ps8-b produced 1.80 ± 0.05 mg/ml CaCO with 763.4 ± 21.2 mg/l NH. Molecular analysis identified Ps1-d as cereus strain bk and Ps8-b as sp. NCCP-428. These findings have significant implications for both (1) the potential application of carbonatogenic bacteria in the conservation and restoration of stone artworks and (2) the development of strategies to inhibit excessive CaCO deposition to prevent the obscuration of cultural heritage paintings.
马罗斯 - 庞克普喀斯特地区拥有被联合国教科文组织认定为世界文化遗产的史前洞穴壁画。这些艺术品表面存在碳酸钙（CaCO）表明有产碳酸盐细菌参与其中，这些细菌促进碳酸钙的产生或沉积。虽然已经对这些细菌在石质艺术品保护方面的潜力进行了探索，但它们在保存或模糊史前绘画方面的作用仍不明确。本研究旨在识别与马罗斯 - 庞克普洞穴壁画相关的产碳酸盐细菌，并评估它们碳酸钙沉淀的潜力。使用碳酸钙沉淀（CCP）培养基分离细菌，并通过测量沉淀质量和氨（NH）水平来评估它们的碳酸钙沉淀能力。使用16S rRNA基因测序进行分子鉴定。从帕雷韦和布卢西蓬洞穴采集的拭子样本中获得了18株细菌分离株，其中10株被鉴定为产碳酸盐细菌。其中，两株分离株表现出最高的碳酸钙沉淀：Ps1 - d产生2.45±0.07 mg/ml碳酸钙，氨含量为946.3±26.3 mg/l，而Ps8 - b产生1.80±0.05 mg/ml碳酸钙，氨含量为763.4±21.2 mg/l。分子分析确定Ps1 - d为蜡样芽孢杆菌菌株bk，Ps8 - b为sp. NCCP - 428。这些发现对于（1）产碳酸盐细菌在石质艺术品保护和修复中的潜在应用以及（2）制定抑制过量碳酸钙沉积以防止文化遗产绘画被遮蔽的策略都具有重要意义。
