Pieces of art stored in museum depots and display rooms are subject to fungal colonization that leads to bio-deterioration processes. Deteriorated wooden sculptures and art photographs temporarily stored in the quarantine room of the Cultural Center of Belgrade were subject to mycological analyses. Twelve fungal species were identified on the wooden substratum and five species were detected on photograph surfaces. Trichoderma viride, Chaetomium globosum and Alternaria sp. were the fungi with proven cellulolytic activity detected on the examined cellulose substrata. Indoor air mycobiota were estimated to 210.09 ± 8.06 CFU m-3, and the conidia of fungus Aspergillus niger were the dominant fungal propagules in the air of the examined room. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 173032
Cyanobacteria, algae (Chlorophyta and Bacillariophyta), and fungi were identified from biofilm samples from three caves in western Serbia: Ribnička, Hadži Prodanova, and Rćanska. Temperature, light intensity, and relative humidity varied from 16.9 8C to 24.9 8C, 61% to 87%, and 215 Lux to 4400 Lux, respectively. In general, the highest number of documented taxa belonged to Cyanobacteria, with chroococcalean taxa prevailing and Gloeocapsa species as the most diverse. A large percentage of observed fungi were Ascomycetes or Zygomycetes, while the only representative of Basidiomycetes was Rhizoctonia s. lat. However, a redundancy analysis revealed that different taxonomic groups were dominant at different localities: cyanobacteria and fungi in Ribnička and Hadži Prodanova, and Chlorophyta and Bacillariophyta in Rćanska. The statistical analysis showed that relative humidity is an important physical parameter influencing the development of various microbial communities in different caves. Cyanobacteria were mostly found in places with lower relative humidity, while Chlorophyta and Bacillariophyta were found in places with higher humidity. The documented physical parameters did not have a significant impact on the distribution of fungi. Measured chlorophyll-a content was highest on horizontal surfaces, where the highest content of organic/inorganic matter were also recorded. The highest water content was observed in biofilm samples from which many cyanobacteria taxa were identified.
There is considerable interest in the use of essential oils as alternative
methods to control micromycetes from cultural heritage objects. We
investigated the chemical composition and antifungal activity of the
essential oil of Helichrysum italicum. The main components of the oil were
?-curcumene (22.45%), ?-pinene (15.91 %) and neryl acetate (7.85 %). H.
italicum essential oil showed moderate antifungal activity against fungi
isolated from cultural heritage objects. The most susceptible fungi to oil
treatment were Epicoccum nigrum and Penicillium sp., while the most resistant
was Trichoderma viride. The H. italicum essential oil showed demelanizing
activity against Aspergillus niger.
Fungi have been implicated as quantitatively the most important bioaerosol component of indoor air associated with contaminated air-conditioning systems. rarely, indoor fungi may cause human infections, but more commonly allergenic responses ranging from pneumonitis to asthma-like symptoms. From all air conditioner filters analyzed, 16 fungal taxa were isolated and identified. Aspergillus fumigatus causes more lethal infections worldwide than any other mold. Air-conditioning filters that adsorb moisture and volatile organics appear to provide suitable substrates for fungal colonization. It is important to stress that fungal colonization of air-conditioning systems should not be ignored, especially in hospital environments
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