Development of new approaches for the detection of yeast and bacteria thriving in mortars

• Main Authors: Ricardo Vieira, Marina González-Pérez, António Pereira, António Candeias, Ana T. Caldeira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Associação Profissional de Conservadores - Restauradores de Portugal 2016-01-01
• Series: Conservar Património
• Subjects: Fluorescence in situ hybridisation; Cultural Heritage; Microbial communities
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.14568/cp2015047

The development of simple and rapid new approaches for analysing microbial communities colonising Cultural Heritage materials is pivotal for its safeguard. Fluorescence in situ hybridisation technique using ribosomal RNA directed probes (RNA-FISH) has demonstrated a great potential for this purpose. A protocol for analysing filamentous fungi in mortars has been already developed in previous studies. In this work this protocol has been adapted for detecting bacteria and yeasts. Good results have been obtained for the analysis of suspensions of isolates. In this way, the optimized protocol was applied in microsamples from synthetic mortar artificially inoculated with yeast and bacterial isolates. Promising results have been obtained for the ex situ analysis of yeast and bacteria thriving in mortar microsamples.