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Isolation of five Rubrobacter strains from biodeteriorated monuments

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Abstract

In the last few years, the microbial colonisation of mural paintings in ancient monuments has been attracting the attention of microbiologists and conservators. The genus Rubrobacter is commonly found in biodeteriorated monuments, where it has been reported to cause rosy discolouration. However, to date, only three species of this genus have been isolated, all from thermophilic environments. In this paper, we studied three monuments: the Servilia and Postumio tombs in the Roman Necropolis of Carmona (Spain), and Vilar de Frades church (Portugal), in search of Rubrobacter strains. In all cases, biodeterioration and the formation of efflorescences were observed, and five Rubrobacter strains were isolated. These isolates showed different physiology and migration in denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, suggesting they might represent new species within this genus. The isolates reproduced some biodeterioration processes in the laboratory and revealed their biomediation in crystal formation.

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Acknowledgements

EA, VJ and LL acknowledge financial support from a Marie Curie Action MEST-CT2004-513915, an I3P (CSIC-ESF) postdoctoral contract, and project 200740/011, respectively. This research was funded by the Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa, Junta de Andalucía, project P06-RNM-02318 and by CSIC-FCT, project 2007PT0041.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiologia, CSIC, Apartado 1052, 41080, Seville, Spain

    L. Laiz, V. Jurado, E. Akatova, J. M. Gonzalez & C. Saiz-Jimenez

  2. Departamento de Conservação e Restauro, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    A. Z. Miller & M. F. Macedo

  3. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Madrid, Spain

    S. Sanchez-Moral

  4. Laboratório de Mineralogia e Petrologia, Departamento de Engenharia de Minas e Georrecursos, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal

    A. Dionísio

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  1. L. Laiz
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Correspondence to C. Saiz-Jimenez.

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Laiz, L., Miller, A.Z., Jurado, V. et al. Isolation of five Rubrobacter strains from biodeteriorated monuments. Naturwissenschaften 96, 71–79 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0452-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0452-2

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