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Microbial fingerprints reveal interaction between museum objects, curators, and visitors.
iScience 26:107578 (2023)
Microbial communities reside at the interface between humans and their environment. Whether the microbiome can be leveraged to gain information on human interaction with museum objects is unclear. To investigate this, we selected objects from the Museum für Naturkunde and the Pergamonmuseum in Berlin, Germany, varying in material and size. Using swabs, we collected 126 samples from natural and cultural heritage objects, which were analyzed through 16S rRNA sequencing. By comparing the microbial composition of touched and untouched objects, we identified a microbial signature associated with human skin microbes. Applying this signature to cultural heritage objects, we identified areas with varying degrees of exposure to human contact on the Ishtar gate and Sam'al gate lions. Furthermore, we differentiated objects touched by two different individuals. Our findings demonstrate that the microbiome of museum objects provides insights into the level of human contact, crucial for conservation, heritage science, and potentially provenance research.
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Publication type
Article: Journal article
Document type
Scientific Article
Keywords
Human ; Microbiome ; Nature Conservation; Cultural-heritage
ISSN (print) / ISBN
2589-0042
e-ISSN
2589-0042
Journal
iScience
Quellenangaben
Volume: 26,
Issue: 9,
Article Number: 107578
Publisher
Elsevier
Publishing Place
Amsterdam ; Bosten ; London ; New York ; Oxford ; Paris ; Philadelphia ; San Diego ; St. Louis
Non-patent literature
Publications
Reviewing status
Peer reviewed
Institute(s)
Institute of Environmental Medicine (IEM)
Institute of Computational Biology (ICB)
Institute of Computational Biology (ICB)
Grants
Richard Lounsbery Foundation