MinION technology for microbiome sequencing applications for the conservation of cultural heritage

Abstract

The MinION single-molecule sequencing system has been attracting the attention of the community of microbiologists involved in the conservation of cultural heritage. The use of MinION for the conservation of cultural heritage is extremely recent, but surprisingly the only few applications available have been exploring many different substrates: stone, textiles, paintings and wax. The use of MinION sequencing is mainly used to address the metataxonomy (with special emphasis on non-cultivable microorganisms) with the effort to identify species involved in the degradation of the substrates. In this review, we show the current applications available on different artworks, showing how this technology can be a useful tool for microbiologists and conservators also in light of its low cost and the easy chemistry.

Keywords: Conservation; Cultural heritages; Metataxonomy; MinION; NGS.