The use of fatty acid methyl ester analysis (FAME) for the identification of heterotrophic bacteria present on three mural paintings showing severe damage by microorganisms

Mural paintings in Carmona (Spain), Herberstein (Austria) and Greene (Germa ny), showing visible deterioration by microorganisms, were sampled to inves tigate the biodiversity of the heterotrophic bacteria present. Four hundred twenty-eight bacterial strains were isolated from which 385 were character ized by fatty acid methyl eater analysis (FAME). The isolates were grouped into 41 clusters on the basis of their FAME profiles, 20 isolates remained ungrouped. The majority (94%) of the isolates comprised the Gram-positive b acteria and the main clusters were identified as Bacillus sp., Paenibacillu s sp., Micrococcus sp., Althrobacter sp. and Staphylococcus sp. Other clust ers contain nocardioform actinomycetes and Gramnegative bacteria, respectiv ely. A cluster of the latter contained extreme halotolerant bacteria isolat ed in Herberstein. The FAME profiles of this cluster showed a high similari ty with Halomonas. (C) 1999 Federation of European Microbiological Societie s. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.