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Human beings had made this world a beautiful place to live in, from centuries some beautiful

monuments from various parts of world have remained as tourists’s attraction. They have been

preserved as the cultural heritage sites, but les scare was taken about their preservation, and thus

many of those monuments are on risk of destruction. For example Da Vinci Mona Lisa has a

crack, Taj Mahal is deteriorated because of pollution, Michael Angelo’s David was getting

deteriorated as well. Reason can be different but ultimately the cultural treasure is being affected.

So awareness being built up, and various assessments, test are carried out to find the reasons

behind this deterioration, and the major contributors of this deterioration were found to be

microorganisms. Let’s see how these small microorganisms can cause a gradual deterioration of 

the heavy, rigid stones.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/3868661 

The gradual destruction of the substance due to action of biological against is called as bio-

deterioration. Microorganisms live in colonies, if they get a surface to adhere to, they grow and

multiply at faster rates and form a film, which is called as a biofilm. One microorganism is not

able to produce a noticeable effect, but when they are present in bio film, together they can

produce detrimental effects. Biological communities that grow on the stones, and deteriorate

them are called as lithobiontic communities.. They grow and multiply together, excrete

exoploymers that make the biofilm firmer. They produce enzymes, that are able to de-mineralize

the stone material. Microorganisms are so diverse in nature that they are able to grow anywhere

and found almost everywhere. They have a large population which is just impossible to be acted

upon. This deterioration also occurs due to biocorrosion caused by organic and inorganic acids

produced by living organisms. Many of these microorganisms are important economically , but

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the ones which carry out the destruction are surely harmful. Microorganisms that are shown to be

the causative agents in deterioration of stone are bacteria, Archaea , cyanobacteria, algae , fungi

and lichens ,etc. The increasing awareness about the preservation of heritage sites forced the

biological scientist to find out the ways that could be employed to get rid of these

microorganisms or prevent them from colonizing on such stone knowledge of microbiology ( the

nutrition, growth and reproduction of bacteria) can help in assessing the risk factors associated

with these microorganisms, understanding their life cycle, and with the application of newer

technologies in biology ( Biotechnology) to get rid of them. Earlier these studies did not include

the modern knowledge of Biology. The traditional method was identifying living organisms

causing the deterioration by classic phenotypic identification methods. But here in our research

paper the author P. Fernandes has mentioned the phenotypic, genotypic and molecular

techniques as well.

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47b504d96046@sessionmgr110&vid=13&hid=9 

Methodology : Various methods that can be applied to prevent the stone deterioration are:

Use of Microorganisms:

The microorganisms like some of the bacteria can be used to restore the artwork. The application

of of chemosynthetic bacteria like Nitrate or sulphate reducing bacteria, called SRB and NRB,

respectively as well as the hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria( HDB) , bio-calcifying bacteria (

BCB) can be carried out. The action of hydrolytic enzymes like lipases, proteases, and

carbohydrases can be helpful in dissolving the biofilms. The Biofilms are composed of the

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mineral matricx and SRB and NRB can be used to reduce the sulfate and nitrate in the mineral

matrix. There are some deposited hydrocarbons on stone that are dissolved by action of HDB.

BCB can be used for stone consolidation. This way microorganism can be used against

microorganisms only. This restoration can be simply termed as Bio-remediation ( application of 

biological agents in the revival). This may be the short lived treatment.

Use of Radiation:

The newer technologies of one of the branches of Biotechnology that is Biophysics can be

applied here. The UV, gamma rays or X-rays can be used to irradiate the microorganisms as well

as other eukaryotic species causing biological degradation. They have short wavelength thus

penetrate deeper and kill the organisms responsible for deterioration. These irradiations are

generally harmful and have side effects on biological communities, thus the use should be kept

minimum.

Application of Biocides:

The gaseous-chemical biocides like bactericides, algicides, fungicides, insecticides, made up of 

ammonium compounds, phenol or urea derivatives, nitrogen-containing compounds , as well as

some gaseous biocides can be used to apply on the organisms growing on the sculptures, walls,

stony surfaces. Application of these chemicals may have side effects on surrounding population,

plants and human beings as well, thus there use has got some limitations.

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Fumigation:

Fumigation is the technique used to kill bacteria mainly. Toxic gases are used to kill bacteria and

some fungi, but they are very toxic if inhaled.

Low pressure water rinsing

This can be applied to remove the sticky bigger organisms like fungi, lichen, algae. It does not

have any health hazard.

Application of Anaerobic atmosphere:

The use of chamber to evacuate the region having biological growth, or removal of oxygen is

carried out. This process needs costly equipments which are developed in biological industries

like agriculture, waste disposal systems, etc. It needs application of Bio- engineering. Newer

chambers that can be cheap and effective are under research. This may then be a good and

effective method of removal of unwanted biological growth.

Restoration by Calcite precipitation

The Calcite precipitation can be done by addition of organic macro molecules ( rich in aspartic

acid). Now a days it can also be done by application of artificially prepared poly- aspartic acid

compounds, that induce precipitation of calcite and restoration of the deterioration caused by

microorganisms.

All above mentioned techniques have their own advantages and disadvantages. Some may

happen to take long time to complete the action, whereas some are quite faster techniques. The

selection of technique is not only based on the duration it takes , but also the quality of the

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action, cost required to accomplish it, and very importantly biological hazards they pose, are the

important factors to be considered. The identification of strains by genotypic methods like ( PCR

DNA DNA hybridization, genetic analysis ) + phenotypic methods is generally followed by the

techniques mentioned above. Obviously the techniques are going to be different for different

organisms and thus will be the result.

Conclusion:

With the increase in awareness of conservation of our heritage the role of the sciences like

applied microbiology and biotechnology in the conservation of stone artwork is being

acknowledged. Amongst t he various techniques that are mentioned by the author the most

powerful, eco- friendly biological techniques are effective in terms of identification of the bio-

deteriorating agents. Before application of these techniques it’s very much important that we

identify the specific reason of the deterioration, whether it is due to chemical pollution or action

of biological agents. In case of biological deterioration, the identification of organisms is must

before application of any technique. Biotechnological approaches to counter the effect of both

biological and non-biological degradation agents are starting to pile up. Amongst the all

techniques discussed above I think the application of microorganisms in the restoration of the

artwork is the best one. It is eco, health friendly, require less input. Though there are some

disadvantages of the method being not so efficient, but still in future there can be much more to

be done with the same. Microbial world is quite resourceful and thus it has a long road ahead.

Application of Biology off course not accomplish this task solely, and it requires the application

of physical , chemical sciences as well as engineering sciences, That what Biotechnology is all

about, various such impossible things are made possible sue to application of Biotechnology.

Bioremediation is one of the most important task or a problem that is being taken care of Bio

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technology. It has to a go a long road in future as it also considers the ‘Being Eco- Health

Friendly’ part of the techniques it employs. In this report we saw the application of 

Biotechnology in the Conservation Of our Heritage – by conserving the precious stony

Monuments, in the same way Biotechnology has got wider application in almost all Bio remedial

acts. Hope that all that has got deteriorated can be restored with application of this science.

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