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Biotechnology to Restoration and Conservation

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Microbial Biotechnology Approaches to Monuments of Cultural Heritage

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Abstract

Biotechnology is a broad area of biology that involves the technological application of living cells, organisms and systems to make or develop products. It exploits cellular and bimolecular processes to innovate technologies and products that improve the standard of living and the planet’s health. Biotechnology has been essential in the betterment of medicine, industry and agriculture. It has great potential for the conservation and preservation of cultural monuments. With a rapid increase in population and pollution, cultural monuments are now being degraded and eroded away at a rapid pace. Some have blackened, some have lost their shine and some are left ruined by acid rain. Mechanical methods such as washing have not proven to be a success in the conservation of these monuments. Recent work using biotechnology has proven to be a better alternative in the conservation and preservation of monuments. Biotechnology research in restoration work of cultural monuments develops in two directions, one which focuses on the development of accurate diagnostic techniques for the identification and characterization of bio-deteriogens and alterations and the other which focuses on the development of innovative restoration methods by the employment of new products. Bacteria that reduce sulphur were used for black crust of marble from the Cathedral of Florence. The Desulfovibrio desulfuricans bacteria have been used for the removal of black patina which contains large amounts of sulphates. Denitrifying bacteria, for example, Pseudomonas stutzeri, have been used for the removal of nitrate pollutants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hindu College, University of Delhi, Delhi, India

    Lamha Kumar & Neha Kapoor

  2. Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Archana Tiwari

Authors
  1. Lamha Kumar
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  2. Neha Kapoor
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  3. Archana Tiwari
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Correspondence to Archana Tiwari .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Eternal University, Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh, India

    Ajar Nath Yadav

  2. Department of Molecular & Cell Biochemistry, Falavarjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

    Ali Asghar Rastegari

  3. Department of Chemistry & Biotechnology, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia

    Vijai Kumar Gupta

  4. Gopi Nath P.G. College, Veer Bahadur Singh Purvanchal University, Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Neelam Yadav

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Kumar, L., Kapoor, N., Tiwari, A. (2020). Biotechnology to Restoration and Conservation. In: Yadav, A., Rastegari, A., Gupta, V., Yadav, N. (eds) Microbial Biotechnology Approaches to Monuments of Cultural Heritage. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3401-0_9

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