CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Novel, environmental approach for the analysis of biodeteriorationmechanisms of historical objects requires simultaneous analysis of themicrobial population, the profile of chemicals compounds and the properties oftechnical material, which interact with each other. According to this principlecurrently novel next generation methods are used in the diagnosis of thebiodeterioration: metagenome analysis (e.g. Illumina Sequencing, Ion Torrent,gene library construction), metabolome analysis (e.g. HPLC-Q-TOF-MS, MALDI-TOF,laser ablation), with simultaneous analysis of material deterioration (e.g.using electron microscopy methods - SEM-EDX). Application of next generation sequencing methods allows to identify culturablemicroorganisms as well as nonculturable in VBNC state (viable, butnonculturable), metabolically active, undetectable using classical methods onthe microbial media. It is very important to choose a non-invasive samplingmethod as well as a proper platform using different primers for genesequencing. On the basis of metabolomic analysis, numerous products of primaryand secondary metabolism of microorganisms can be detected, i.e. organic acids,pigments as well as chemicals used during conservation treatments in the past. Metabolomic and metagenomic analyses performed so far on historicalobjects ? buildings, archived documents, textiles and ceramics allowed torecognize biodeterioration mechanisms, to identify culturable microorganismsand in the VBNC state, identify the type of chemical compounds includingmicrobial metabolites and as a consequence, propose methods of disinfection ofthe historical objects. The lecture will present metabolomic and metagenomicmethods and examples of their applications in the field of cultural heritage.