Extreme Colonizers and Rapid Profiteers: The Challenging World of Microorganisms That Attack Paper and Parchment

Abstract

Microorganisms form the backbone of life on Earth. Over billions of years, they have colonized and shaped every possible niche on the planet. Microbes have modelled both the land and the sea, and have created favourable conditions for multicellular organisms to thrive in. Our understanding of how microbial diversity is distributed across natural environments and how microbes affect ecosystems is constantly evolving as public databases are set up and new techniques based on massive sequencing are developed. The microbiome found in a particular anthropogenic environment is generally much less complex than those found in natural ones: there is less competition and the main actors are often linked to survival mechanisms regulated by a few limiting factors. Despite this simplicity, it is very difficult to link cause and effect when seeking to identify the role of individual organisms. In the case of biodeterioration of paper and parchment, even when analysing the individual components of a simple phenomenon, it is not always easy to understand the mechanisms at play. Works of art are unique objects and the elements that determine the arrival and establishment of one or more microorganisms and the direction that the biodeterioration process takes are always different. In some cases, however, there are common denominators and predictable mechanisms. The variables that come into play are examined below.

Burial-induced deterioration in leather: a FTIR-ATR, DSC, TG/DTG, MHT and SEM study

“…8). The chains of bacterial spores and filaments resemble the typical structure of some Actinomycetes [58,60], aerobic spore forming gram-positive bacteria, which are the most abundent organism that form thread-like filaments in the soil and play a major rôle in the cycling of organic matter [61].…”

Biophysical Manipulation of the Extracellular Environment by Eurotium halophilicum

“…The salts that E. halophilicum concentrates in its mycelium may originate from the materials themselves [71,72] (and possibly also from the dust deposited on them). The micronutrients (nutrients other than C or N) present in paper and parchment can vary greatly depending on the manufacturing process [71][72][73]. Furthermore, these substances (Na, P, S, K, etc) can be uniformly distributed within these materials (especially if they were used during their manufacture) or heterogeneous/patchy in distribution (for example, if they originate in dust) [74].…”

Antifungal Activity of Cell-Free Filtrate of Probiotic Bacteria Lactobacillus rhamnosus ATCC-7469 against Fungal Strains Isolated from a Historical Manuscript

“…On the other hand, fungi are among the most harmful species that contribute to the biodegradation of historical organic materials including books, manuscripts, and book bindings made of vegetable-tanned leather [ 5 ]. The penetration of fibers by fungal hyphae can cause mechanical stress on the components of the paper, weakening them, and they secrete extracellular enzymes, leading to biodeterioration [ 6 , 7 ].…”

“…The penetration of fibers by fungal hyphae can cause mechanical stress on the components of the paper, weakening them, and they secrete extracellular enzymes, leading to biodeterioration [ 6 , 7 ]. The identification of different fungal strains associated with historical papers is the critical step to exploring how they colonize and degrade substrates because only a few organisms can utilize the majority of the substrates [ 5 ]. According to the published literature, the most commonly found fungal strains associated with paper damage and biodeterioration were Aspergillus niger , A. flavus , A. terreus , A. ochraceous , A. carbonarius , A. fischeri , A. fumigatus , A. tamarii , Eurotium chevalieri , Cladosporium cladosporioides , Fusarium poae , Wallemia sebi , Penicillium notatum , P. oxalicum , P. rubrum , and Aletrnaria alternata [ 8 , 9 ].…”