Biodeterioration and cellulolytic activity by fungi isolated from a nineteenth-century painting at the National Theatre of Costa Rica

Vieto, Sofía; Escudero-Leyva, Efraín; Avendaño, Roberto; Rechnitzer, Noelia; Barrantes-Madrigal, M D; Conejo-Barboza, Geraldine; Herrera-Sancho, O. A.; Chaverri, Priscila; Chavarría, Max

doi:10.1016/j.funbio.2021.11.001

Cited by 16 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Normally, paintings consist of many superimposed layers where the pigments and the binder interact in a varied and complex way causing color changes and discoloration; these are inherent to the artist's selection of materials and the restoration interventions. Some of these changes can be attributed to microorganisms and weather conditions, as they can accelerate these processes of deterioration [3][4][5] , especially in tropical environments such as those found in Costa Rica. It is worth noting that the study of art conservation in tropical areas has been scarcely explored.…”

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confidence: 99%

Multidisciplinary approach to the study of large-format oil paintings

Calderón-Mesén

Jaikel-Víquez

Barrantes-Madrigal

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Cultural heritage has become a keystone for comprehending our society, as it represents and reflects our origins, passions, beliefs and traditions. Furthermore, it provides fundamental information about specific temporary spaces, materials’ availability, technology, artist’s intention, and site weather conditions. Our aim was to develop a multidisciplinary approach with a main focus on investigating two Italian large-format paintings located in highly diverse environments such as the National Theater of Costa Rica. We monitored environmental conditions and quantified fungal aerial spores. Then, we determined regions of possible biodeterioration with the software MicroorganismPattern and used the software PigmentArrangement to elucidate the apparent colour of the paintings based on distribution and arrangement of the pigment crystals. Finally, we characterized eight genera of calcareous nannofossils found in the ground layers of the artwork. The former Men’s Canteen at the National Theater of Costa Rica presented a mean air temperature of 23.5 $$^{\circ }$$ ∘ C, a relative humidity of 72.7% and a concentration of CO$$_{2}$$ 2 of 570 ppm. The fungal aerial concentration was 1776 spores/m$$^{3}$$ 3 . The software MicroorganismPattern identified 32 sampling regions, out of which 11 were positive for microbial contamination. The software PigmentArrangement determined that the blue crystals (ultramarine pigment) had the shortest distances between themselves (29 $$\upmu$$ μ m). Finally, the nanofossils identified enabled us to restrict the age of the material to a biostratigraphic interval ranging from Coniacian to Maastricthian ages. By using a multidisciplinary approach we were able to explore the diptych, suggest a set of minimally invasive perspectives in tropical environments to be used worldwide and obtain key information about the artist’s artistic process, materials used along with better understand its state of conservation.

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confidence: 99%

Multidisciplinary approach to the study of large-format oil paintings

Calderón-Mesén

Jaikel-Víquez

Barrantes-Madrigal

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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“…The fungi were molecularly identified as Arthrinium , Aspergillus , Chaetomium , Cladosporium , Colletotrichum , Penicillium , and Trichoderma ; a great majority of them showed cellulolytic activity. Many fungal species found in historic paper-based documents contain enzymatic activity related to biodeterioration, which allows fungi to use these surfaces as a source of carbon [ 5 , 12 ]. The enzymatic machinery to take advantage of paper as a source of carbon has been reported in fungi isolated from historic documents and includes the presence of exoenzymes with cellulase activity [ 14 – 16 ] lignocellulolytic [ 17 ] glucanase, and laccase [ 4 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because biodeterioration can lead to the damage of historic documents, artwork, monuments, or buildings, its study is fundamental for the conservation of cultural heritage [1][2][3][4][5]. The prevention of biodeterioration and development of adequate conservation and restoration strategies cannot be an unscripted process; it is necessary to undertake diagnoses of these valuable pieces of our history and art, which include chemical characterization and the study of microbial diversity together with the physiological characteristics of biodeteriogens [1,6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fungi with history: Unveiling the mycobiota of historic documents of Costa Rica

Escudero-Leyva

Vieto²,

Avendaño³

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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We studied the physicochemical characteristics and mycobiota associated to five key historic documents from Costa Rica, including the Independence Act of Costa Rica from 1821. We used nondestructive techniques (i.e., ATR-FTIR and XRF) to determine paper and ink composition. Results show that some documents are composed of cotton-based paper, whereas others were made of wood cellulose with an increased lignin content. We also determined that the ink employed in some of the documents is ferrogallic. Cultivation and molecular techniques were used to characterize the fungi inhabiting the documents. In total, 22 fungal isolates were obtained: 15 from the wood-cellulose-based documents and seven from the other three cotton-based. We also tested the cellulolytic activity of the recovered fungi; 95% of the fungi presented cellulolytic activity correlated to their ability to cause deterioration of the paper. Results suggest that cotton-based paper is the most resistant to fungal colonization and that most of the isolates have cellulolytic activity. This work increases the knowledge of the fungal diversity that inhabits historic documents and its relationship with paper composition and provides valuable information to develop strategies to conserve and restore these invaluable documents.

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“…The fungi were molecularly identified as Arthrinium, Aspergillus, Chaetomium, Cladosporium, Colletotrichum, Penicillium, and Trichoderma; a great majority of them showed cellulolytic activity. Many fungal species found in historic paper-based documents contain enzymatic activity related to biodeterioration, which allows fungi to use these surfaces as a source of carbon (Coronado-Ruíz et al 2018;Pinheiro et al 2019;Vieto et al 2022). The enzymatic machinery to take advantage of paper as a source of carbon has been reported in fungi isolated from historic documents and includes the presence of exoenzymes with cellulase activity (Puškárová et al 2019;El Begardi et al 2014), lignocellulolytic (Mazzoli et al 2018) glucanase, and laccase (Sterflinger and Pinzari 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fungi with history: Unveiling the mycobiota of historic documents of Costa Rica

Escudero-Leyva

Vieto²,

Avendaño³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Through nondestructive techniques, we studied the physicochemical characteristics and mycobiota of five key historic documents from Costa Rica, including the Independence Act of Costa Rica from 1821. We determined that for documents dated between 1500 and 1900 (i.e., the Cloudy Days Act, the Independence Act, and two documents from the Guatemalan Series from 1539 and 1549), the paper composition was cotton, whereas the 1991 replicate of the Political Constitution from 1949 was made of wood cellulose with an increased lignin content. We also determined that the ink employed in 1821 documents is ferrogallic, i.e., formed by iron sulfate salts in combination with gallic and tannic acids. In total, 22 fungal isolates were obtained: 15 from the wood-cellulose-based Political Constitution and seven from the other three cotton-based documents. These results suggest that cotton-based paper is the most resistant to microbial colonization. Molecular identifications using three DNA markers (i.e., ITS nrDNA, beta-tubulin, and translation elongation factor 1-alpha) classified the isolates in eight orders and ten genera. The most frequent genera were Cladosporium, Penicillium, and Purpureocillium. Of the isolates, 95% presented cellulolytic activity correlated to their ability to cause deterioration of the paper. This work increases the knowledge of the fungal diversity that inhabits historic documents and its relationship with paper composition and provides valuable information to develop strategies to conserve and restore these invaluable documents.

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Biodeterioration and cellulolytic activity by fungi isolated from a nineteenth-century painting at the National Theatre of Costa Rica

Cited by 16 publications

References 71 publications

Multidisciplinary approach to the study of large-format oil paintings

Multidisciplinary approach to the study of large-format oil paintings

Fungi with history: Unveiling the mycobiota of historic documents of Costa Rica

Fungi with history: Unveiling the mycobiota of historic documents of Costa Rica

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