Murals meet microbes: at the crossroads of microbiology and cultural heritage

Our cultural heritage consists of manifold cultural ex-pressions and represents a defining feature of our soci-eties that needs to be further inherited to future gen-erations. Even though humankind always fought a daily struggle for survival, at the same time, it seemed to have a spiritual need that...

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Main Authors: Maria A. Bauer, Katharina Kainz, Christoph Ruckenstuhl, Frank Madeo, Didac Carmona-Gutierrez
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Shared Science Publishers OG 2021-12-01
Series:Microbial Cell
Subjects:
Online Access:http://microbialcell.com/researcharticles/2021a-bauer-microbial-cell/
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author Maria A. Bauer
Katharina Kainz
Christoph Ruckenstuhl
Frank Madeo
Didac Carmona-Gutierrez
author_facet Maria A. Bauer
Katharina Kainz
Christoph Ruckenstuhl
Frank Madeo
Didac Carmona-Gutierrez
author_sort Maria A. Bauer
collection DOAJ
description Our cultural heritage consists of manifold cultural ex-pressions and represents a defining feature of our soci-eties that needs to be further inherited to future gen-erations. Even though humankind always fought a daily struggle for survival, at the same time, it seemed to have a spiritual need that went far beyond mere mate-rialistic satisfaction and nowadays manifests in some-times very ancient, yet brilliant artistic works. This fun-damental legacy is endangered by several instances, including biodeterioration. Indeed, microorganisms play a significant role in the decline of all forms of tangible cultural heritage, including movable, immovable and underwater cultural heritage. Microbial colonization, biofilm formation and damaging metabolite production eventually result in critical decay. Thus, efforts to miti-gate the negative impact of damaging microorganisms have been pursued with diverse physical, chemical and biological approaches. Intriguingly, recent advances have unveiled that specific microorganisms and microbi-al-based technologies also have the potential for cultur-al heritage preservation and present unique advantages. This short piece provides a quick overview on the duali-ty of microorganisms in the conservation and restora-tion of cultural heritage.
format Article
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institution OA Journals
issn 2311-2638
language English
publishDate 2021-12-01
publisher Shared Science Publishers OG
record_format Article
series Microbial Cell
spelling doaj-art-adb5b28b2b224b07ab47d5cfa85ab5602025-08-20T02:04:33ZengShared Science Publishers OGMicrobial Cell2311-26382021-12-0181227627910.15698/mic2021.12.765Murals meet microbes: at the crossroads of microbiology and cultural heritageMaria A. Bauer0Katharina Kainz1Christoph Ruckenstuhl2Frank Madeo3Didac Carmona-Gutierrez4Institute of Molecular Biosciences, NAWI Graz, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.Institute of Molecular Biosciences, NAWI Graz, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.Institute of Molecular Biosciences, NAWI Graz, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.Institute of Molecular Biosciences, NAWI Graz, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.Institute of Molecular Biosciences, NAWI Graz, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.Our cultural heritage consists of manifold cultural ex-pressions and represents a defining feature of our soci-eties that needs to be further inherited to future gen-erations. Even though humankind always fought a daily struggle for survival, at the same time, it seemed to have a spiritual need that went far beyond mere mate-rialistic satisfaction and nowadays manifests in some-times very ancient, yet brilliant artistic works. This fun-damental legacy is endangered by several instances, including biodeterioration. Indeed, microorganisms play a significant role in the decline of all forms of tangible cultural heritage, including movable, immovable and underwater cultural heritage. Microbial colonization, biofilm formation and damaging metabolite production eventually result in critical decay. Thus, efforts to miti-gate the negative impact of damaging microorganisms have been pursued with diverse physical, chemical and biological approaches. Intriguingly, recent advances have unveiled that specific microorganisms and microbi-al-based technologies also have the potential for cultur-al heritage preservation and present unique advantages. This short piece provides a quick overview on the duali-ty of microorganisms in the conservation and restora-tion of cultural heritage.http://microbialcell.com/researcharticles/2021a-bauer-microbial-cell/biocleaningtangible cultural heritagemicrobial deteriorationbiodeteriorationbiotreatmentbacteriafungibiofilm
spellingShingle Maria A. Bauer
Katharina Kainz
Christoph Ruckenstuhl
Frank Madeo
Didac Carmona-Gutierrez
Murals meet microbes: at the crossroads of microbiology and cultural heritage
Microbial Cell
biocleaning
tangible cultural heritage
microbial deterioration
biodeterioration
biotreatment
bacteria
fungi
biofilm
title Murals meet microbes: at the crossroads of microbiology and cultural heritage
title_full Murals meet microbes: at the crossroads of microbiology and cultural heritage
title_fullStr Murals meet microbes: at the crossroads of microbiology and cultural heritage
title_full_unstemmed Murals meet microbes: at the crossroads of microbiology and cultural heritage
title_short Murals meet microbes: at the crossroads of microbiology and cultural heritage
title_sort murals meet microbes at the crossroads of microbiology and cultural heritage
topic biocleaning
tangible cultural heritage
microbial deterioration
biodeterioration
biotreatment
bacteria
fungi
biofilm
url http://microbialcell.com/researcharticles/2021a-bauer-microbial-cell/
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AT katharinakainz muralsmeetmicrobesatthecrossroadsofmicrobiologyandculturalheritage
AT christophruckenstuhl muralsmeetmicrobesatthecrossroadsofmicrobiologyandculturalheritage
AT frankmadeo muralsmeetmicrobesatthecrossroadsofmicrobiologyandculturalheritage
AT didaccarmonagutierrez muralsmeetmicrobesatthecrossroadsofmicrobiologyandculturalheritage