Fungal melanins that detrriorate paper cultural heritage: an overview.

NITIU, DANIELA SILVANA; MALLO, A.C; SAPARRAT, M.

MYCOLOGIA.

ALLEN PRESS INC

Lugar: Lawrence; Año: 2020

0027-5514

Paper-based works of art and documents of cultural importance kept in museums and libraries canshow notorious signs of deterioration, including foxing stains, caused by fungal colonization. Some ofthe main chromophore agents of fungal origin that deteriorate paper and therefore affect papercultural heritage both aesthetically and structurally are the group of pigments called melanins. Thus,knowledge of the diversity and features of fungal melanins and of the melanization pathways of fungi15 growing on paper is key to removing these pigments from paper-based works of cultural importance.This review provides an approach about the current knowledge of melanins synthesized by papercolonizing fungi, their localization in the fungal structures, and their role in the deterioration of paper.This knowledge might contribute to developing new, effective, and sustainable strategies of restoration and conservation of historical documents and works of art based on paper.