Study of fungal community of some ancient mural painting in Chiang Mai Province by culture-dependent and culture-independent methods

Abstract

Lanna painting is unique painting of Northern Thai region, it is well-known to the rest of the world. Nowadays, the paintings are normally decay over time. Microorganisms are the important factors that susponsible for the destruction such as, concrete building, mortar and paints color. This study aimed to monitor the painting in archeological places, focusing on the 2 Lanna masterpiece paintings from 19th AD in the Chiang Mai province. Thailand. The microorganisms with the biodegradation activity were identified using molecular method. The result showed that bacteria and fungi isolated from samples showed the biodegradation activity of 33% and 50%, respectively. All fungal isolates were shown their organic acid production activity and some isolates could form the calcium oxalate crystal on the agar. Gammaproteobacteria was the predominant group in both temples whereas, Aspergillus and Neodevriesia were the dominant groups in Buak Krok Luang temple (BK) and Tha Kham temple (TK) respectively. The bacterial finction prediction showed the different bacterial function between the temples, bacterial isolated from BK showed high aerobic respiration function on the other hand, group of biosynthesis was shown in the TK. Fungal ecological functional role was also different between the two locations, aerobic respiration was slightly more abundant in Buak Krok Luang temple while groups of biosynthesis function were more abundant in Tha Kham temple.