Fungi with history: Unveiling the mycobiota of historic documents of Costa Rica.

ABSTRACT: We studied the physicochemical characteristics and mycobiota associated to five key historic documents from Costa Rica, including the Independence Act of Costa Rica from 1821. We used nondestructive techniques (i.e., ATR-FTIR and XRF) to determine paper and ink composition. Results show that some documents are composed of cotton-based paper, whereas others were made of wood cellulose with an increased lignin content. We also determined that the ink employed in some of the documents is ferrogallic. Cultivation and molecular techniques were used to characterize the fungi inhabiting the documents. In total, 22 fungal isolates were obtained: 15 from the wood-cellulose-based documents and seven from the other three cotton-based. We also tested the cellulolytic activity of the recovered fungi; 9

SUBMITTER: Escudero-Leyva E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9847896 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature