MinION technology for microbiome sequencing applications for the conservation of cultural heritage

The MinION single-molecule sequencing system has been attracting the attention of the community of microbiologists involved in the conservation of cultural heritage. The use of MinION for the conservation of cultural heritage is extremely recent, but surprisingly the only few applications available have been exploring many different substrates: stone, textiles, paintings and wax. The use of MinION sequencing is mainly used to address the metataxonomy (with special emphasis on non-cultivable microorganisms) with the effort to identify species involved in the degradation of the substrates. In this review, we show the current applications available on different artworks, showing how this technology can be a useful tool for microbiologists and conservators also in light of its low cost and the easy chemistry.

Automated summary

The MinION single-molecule sequencing system has attracted the attention of microbiologists in the cultural heritage conservation community. Despite being a recent innovation, it has been applied on various substrates to identify species involved in substrate degradation. This technology is proving to be a useful and cost-effective tool for microbiologists and conservators in the conservation of artworks.