Xerophilic fungi contaminating historically valuable easel paintings from Slovenia

Polona Zalar; Daša Graf Hriberšek; Cene Gostinčar; Martin Breskvar; Sašo Džeroski; Mojca Matul; Monika Novak Babič; Jerneja Čremožnik Zupančič; Amela Kujović; Nina Gunde-Cimerman; Katja Kavkler

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1258670

Xerophilic fungi contaminating historically valuable easel paintings from Slovenia

Front Microbiol. 2023 Nov 2:14:1258670. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1258670. eCollection 2023.

Affiliations

¹ Chair of Molecular Genetics and Biology of Microorganisms, Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
² Department of Knowledge Technologies, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
³ Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
⁴ Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Abstract

Historically valuable canvas paintings are often exposed to conditions enabling microbial deterioration. Painting materials, mainly of organic origin, in combination with high humidity and other environmental conditions, favor microbial metabolism and growth. These preconditions are often present during exhibitions or storage in old buildings, such as churches and castles, and also in museum storage depositories. The accumulated dust serves as an inoculum for both indoor and outdoor fungi. In our study, we present the results on cultivable fungi isolated from 24 canvas paintings, mainly exhibited in Slovenian sacral buildings, dating from the 16^th to 21^st centuries. Fungi were isolated from the front and back of damaged and undamaged surfaces of the paintings using culture media with high- and low-water activity. A total of 465 isolates were identified using current taxonomic DNA markers and assigned to 37 genera and 98 species. The most abundant genus was Aspergillus, represented by 32 species, of which 9 xerophilic species are for the first time mentioned in contaminated paintings. In addition to the most abundant xerophilic A. vitricola, A. destruens, A. tardicrescens, and A. magnivesiculatus, xerophilic Wallemia muriae and W. canadensis, xerotolerant Penicillium chrysogenum, P. brevicompactum, P. corylophilum, and xerotolerant Cladosporium species were most frequent. When machine learning methods were used to predict the relationship between fungal contamination, damage to the painting, and the type of material present, proteins were identified as one of the most important factors and cracked paint was identified as a hotspot for fungal growth. Aspergillus species colonize paintings regardless of materials, while Wallemia spp. can be associated with animal fat. Culture media with low-water activity are suggested in such inventories to isolate and obtain an overview of fungi that are actively contaminating paintings stored indoors at low relative humidity.

Keywords: biodeterioration; contamination; damage; easel paintings; fungi; machine learning; xerophiles.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was funded by the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency, “Restoration of moldy canvas paintings: improvement or deterioration?” (grant number: ARIS J7-1815), the research program “Molecular Biology of Microorganisms” (grant number: ARIS P1-0198), and Infrastructural Center Mycosmo (I0-0022 MRIC UL IC Mycosmo).