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Microbiology of Healing Mud (Fango) from Roman Thermae Aquae Iasae Archaeological Site (Varaždinske Toplice, Croatia)

  • Environmental Microbiology
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Abstract

We found well-preserved, rocky artefacts that had been buried in the healing mud (fango) for more than 1,500 years at the Roman archaeological site at Varaždinske Toplice. This Roman pool with fango sediments and artefacts is fed from hot sulphidic springs. The fango exhibited nearly neutral pH, a high level of organic C, an elevated concentration of heavy metals and a high total microbial biomass, greater than 108 cells per gram of dry weight. The dominant microbes, assessed by molecular profiling (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis), were affiliated with Thiobacillus, Sulfuricurvum, Polaromonas, and Bdellovibrio. Polymerase chain reaction screening for microbial functional guilds revealed the presence of sulphur oxidizers and methanogens but no sulphate reducers. The dominance of four Proteobacterial classes (α-, β-, δ- and ε-Proteobacteria) was confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridisation; Actinobacteria were less abundant. Cultivable bacteria represented up to 23.4 % of the total bacterial counts when cultivation media was enriched with fango. These bacteria represented the genera Acinetobacter, Aeromonas, Arthrobacter, Comamonas, Ewingella, Flavobacterium, Pseudomonas, Rahnella and Staphylococcus. This study showed that the heterogeneous nature of fango at neutral pH created various microniches, which largely supported microbial life based on sulphur-driven, autotrophic denitrification.

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Acknowledgements

The study was partly supported by the Slovenian Research Agency (J6-0152, P6-0119 and L1-5453) and the inter-academic exchange program between the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The authors are particularly grateful to Spomenka Vlahović and Hrvoje Posilović for assistance and excellent cooperation during the archaeological excavation; to Franjo Drole for assistance during field work; and to Boštjan Geohelli for the facility support. The authors also thank the Laboratory of Electron Microscopy–Institute of Parasitology BC AS CR, v. v. i. in České Budějovice for a productive collaboration on scanning electron microscopy. Finally, the authors would like to thank Majka Stehlíková and Mateja Zadel for laboratory assistance and San Francisco Edit for language assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Karst Research Institute, Titov trg 2, 6230, Postojna, Slovenia

    Janez Mulec

  2. Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v. v. i.-Institute of Soil Biology, Na Sádkách 7, 370 05, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Václav Krištůfek, Alica Chroňáková & Martina Šestauberová

  3. Ştefan cel Mare University, Universităţii 13, 720229, Suceava, Romania

    Andreea Oarga

  4. Department of Clinical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital, Charles University, Sokolská 581, 500 05, Hradec Kralové, Czech Republic

    Josef Scharfen

  5. National Reference Laboratory for Pathogenic Actinomycetes, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Regional Hospital Trutnov, Inc., Trutnov, Czech Republic

    Josef Scharfen

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  1. Janez Mulec
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Correspondence to Janez Mulec.

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Mulec, J., Krištůfek, V., Chroňáková, A. et al. Microbiology of Healing Mud (Fango) from Roman Thermae Aquae Iasae Archaeological Site (Varaždinske Toplice, Croatia). Microb Ecol 69, 293–306 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-014-0491-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-014-0491-5

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