Seasonal dynamics of airborne culturable fungi and its year-round diversity monitoring in Dahuting Han Dynasty Tomb of China

Abstract

Dahuting Han Dynasty Tomb, famous for its magnificent and realistic murals in China, was selected for a year-long study as the research target in relation to microbiological degradation of cultural heritage. This dissertation has investigated the predominant genera of the airborne fungal microbial community in Dahuting and analyzed the seasonal distribution characteristics and temporal-spatial particle size distribution of the fungi in a tomb environment. The combination of culture-dependent and high-throughput sequencing methods was utilized for counting the collected fungi and identifying the strains. Results showed that seasonal dynamics significantly affect the fungal concentration, with higher-level concentrations observed in spring and autumn. However, seasonal variation has little effect on the fungal particle size distribution characteristic trend, and the higher concentration invariably appeared in stage IV to VI (0.65-3.3 μm) of the Andersen six-stage sieve impactor. The ITS (Internal Transcribed Spacer) rRNA gene-based sequences disclosed a high airborne culturable fungal abundance, dominated by Talaromyces spp. (20%-38.4%), followed by Aureobasidium spp. (19.4%-25.6%), Penicillium spp. (10.8%-23.9%) and Aspergillus spp. (8.2%-23.1%). Our research provides valuable information for reasonable protection measures and scientific prevention work of the murals in Dahuting Han Dynasty Tomb.

Keywords: Aerobiology; Ancient Chinese tomb; Biodeterioration; Fungal community; High-throughput sequencing; Size distribution.