title: The community distribution of bacteria and fungi on ancient wall paintings of the Mogao Grottoes.
abstract: In this study, we compared the microbial communities colonising ancient cave wall paintings of the Mogao Grottoes exhibiting signs of biodeterioration. Ten samples were collected from five different caves built during different time periods and analysed using culture-independent and culture-dependent methods. The clone library results revealed high microbial diversity, including the bacterial groups Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Gemmatimonadetes, Planctomycetes, and Chloroflexi and the fungal groups Euascomycetes, Dothideomycetes, Eurotiomycetes, Sordariomycetes, Saccharomycetes, Plectomycetes, Pezizomycetes, Zygomycota, and Basidiomycota. The bacterial community structures differed among the samples, with no consistent temporal or spatial trends. However, the fungal community diversity index correlated with the building time of the caves independent of environmental factors (e.g., temperature or relative humidity). The enrichment cultures revealed that many culturable strains were highly resistant to various stresses and thus may be responsible for the damage to cave paintings in the Mogao Grottoes.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, MOE Key Laboratory of Cell Activities and Stress Adaptations, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yantian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, MOE Key Laboratory of Cell Activities and Stress Adaptations, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: He
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, MOE Key Laboratory of Cell Activities and Stress Adaptations, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, MOE Key Laboratory of Cell Activities and Stress Adaptations, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Tian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, MOE Key Laboratory of Cell Activities and Stress Adaptations, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, MOE Key Laboratory of Cell Activities and Stress Adaptations, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiande
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: The Conservation Research Institute of Dunhuang Academy, Dunhuang, Gansu 736200, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Fasi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, MOE Key Laboratory of Cell Activities and Stress Adaptations, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lizhe
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: The Conservation Research Institute of Dunhuang Academy, Dunhuang, Gansu 736200, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wanfu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology and Toxicology, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ji-Dong
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, MOE Key Laboratory of Cell Activities and Stress Adaptations, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Huyuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Feng
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification*; D044822:Biodiversity; D059552:Caves / Q000382:microbiology*; D002681:China; D002999:Clone Cells; D005658:Fungi / Q000145:classification*; D015723:Gene Library; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D064307:Microbiota; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010151:Paintings; D010802:Phylogeny; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D054712:Salinity; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors