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Halophilic bacteria are colonizing the exhibition areas of the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Italy
The Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, Italy, contain over 1800 mummies dating from the 16th to 20th centuries AD. Their environment is not conducive to the conservation of the remains due to, among other factors, water infiltration, which is producing salt efflorescences on the walls. A multiphasic app...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Springer Japan
2014
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4065341/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24863363 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00792-014-0649-6 |
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author | Piñar, G. Kraková, L. Pangallo, D. Piombino-Mascali, D. Maixner, F. Zink, A. Sterflinger, K. |
author_facet | Piñar, G. Kraková, L. Pangallo, D. Piombino-Mascali, D. Maixner, F. Zink, A. Sterflinger, K. |
author_sort | Piñar, G. |
collection | PubMed |
description | The Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, Italy, contain over 1800 mummies dating from the 16th to 20th centuries AD. Their environment is not conducive to the conservation of the remains due to, among other factors, water infiltration, which is producing salt efflorescences on the walls. A multiphasic approach was applied to investigate the halophilic microbiota present in the Catacombs. Enrichment cultures were conducted on media containing different NaCl concentrations, ranging from 3 to 20 %. For screening of the strains, the following two PCR-based methods were used and compared: fluorescence internal transcribed spacer PCR (f-ITS) and random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analyses. Results derived from RAPD profiles were shown to be slightly more discriminative than those derived from f-ITS. In addition, the proteolytic and cellulolytic abilities were screened through the use of plate assays, gelatin agar and Ostazin Brilliant Red H-3B (OBR-HEC), respectively. Many of the strains isolated from the wall samples displayed proteolytic activities, such as all strains belonging to the genera Bacillus, Virgibacillus and Arthrobacter, as well as some strains related to the genera Oceanobacillus, Halobacillus and Idiomarina. In addition, many of the strains isolated from materials employed to stuff the mummies showed cellulolytic activities, such as those related to species of the genera Chromohalobacter and Nesterenkonia, as well as those identified as Staphylococcus equorum and Halomonas sp. Furthermore, many of the strains were pigmented ranging from yellow to a strong pink color, being directly related to the discoloration displayed by the materials. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4065341 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014 |
publisher | Springer Japan |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-40653412014-06-23 Halophilic bacteria are colonizing the exhibition areas of the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Italy Piñar, G. Kraková, L. Pangallo, D. Piombino-Mascali, D. Maixner, F. Zink, A. Sterflinger, K. Extremophiles Original Paper The Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, Italy, contain over 1800 mummies dating from the 16th to 20th centuries AD. Their environment is not conducive to the conservation of the remains due to, among other factors, water infiltration, which is producing salt efflorescences on the walls. A multiphasic approach was applied to investigate the halophilic microbiota present in the Catacombs. Enrichment cultures were conducted on media containing different NaCl concentrations, ranging from 3 to 20 %. For screening of the strains, the following two PCR-based methods were used and compared: fluorescence internal transcribed spacer PCR (f-ITS) and random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analyses. Results derived from RAPD profiles were shown to be slightly more discriminative than those derived from f-ITS. In addition, the proteolytic and cellulolytic abilities were screened through the use of plate assays, gelatin agar and Ostazin Brilliant Red H-3B (OBR-HEC), respectively. Many of the strains isolated from the wall samples displayed proteolytic activities, such as all strains belonging to the genera Bacillus, Virgibacillus and Arthrobacter, as well as some strains related to the genera Oceanobacillus, Halobacillus and Idiomarina. In addition, many of the strains isolated from materials employed to stuff the mummies showed cellulolytic activities, such as those related to species of the genera Chromohalobacter and Nesterenkonia, as well as those identified as Staphylococcus equorum and Halomonas sp. Furthermore, many of the strains were pigmented ranging from yellow to a strong pink color, being directly related to the discoloration displayed by the materials. Springer Japan 2014-05-27 2014 /pmc/articles/PMC4065341/ /pubmed/24863363 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00792-014-0649-6 Text en © The Author(s) 2014 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Original Paper Piñar, G. Kraková, L. Pangallo, D. Piombino-Mascali, D. Maixner, F. Zink, A. Sterflinger, K. Halophilic bacteria are colonizing the exhibition areas of the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Italy |
title | Halophilic bacteria are colonizing the exhibition areas of the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Italy |
title_full | Halophilic bacteria are colonizing the exhibition areas of the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Italy |
title_fullStr | Halophilic bacteria are colonizing the exhibition areas of the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Italy |
title_full_unstemmed | Halophilic bacteria are colonizing the exhibition areas of the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Italy |
title_short | Halophilic bacteria are colonizing the exhibition areas of the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Italy |
title_sort | halophilic bacteria are colonizing the exhibition areas of the capuchin catacombs in palermo, italy |
topic | Original Paper |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4065341/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24863363 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00792-014-0649-6 |
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