Taxonomic and metabolic characterisation of biofilms colonising Roman stuccoes at Baia's thermal baths and restoration strategies.

ABSTRACT: Stuccoes are very delicate decorative elements of Roman age. Very few of them survived almost intact to present days and, for this reason, they are of great interest to restorers and conservators. In this study, we combined metabarcoding and untargeted metabolomics to characterise the taxonomic and metabolic profiles of the microorganisms forming biofilms on the stuccoes located on the ceiling of the laconicum, a small thermal environment in the archaeological park of Baia (southern Italy). We found that some samples were dominated by bacteria while others by eukaryotes. Additionally, we observed high heterogeneity in the type and abundance of bacterial taxa, while the eukaryotic communities, except in one sample (at prevalence of fungi), were dominated by green algae. The metabolic profil

SUBMITTER: De Luca D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11530618 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature