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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.

Sec. Ancient DNA and Forensic Microbiology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1611451

This article is part of the Research TopicMicrobes and Cultural Heritage: From Biodiversity to ApplicationsView all 7 articles

Analysis and Prevention of Microbial Degradation of Shadow Puppetry Artifacts Preserved in the National Shadow Puppetry Museum in Chengdu

Provisionally accepted
Yu  WangYu Wang1Yuanyuan  WangYuanyuan Wang1Zhiqian  GuanZhiqian Guan1Zeao  WangZeao Wang1Yangbo  DuanYangbo Duan2Chen  MinChen Min3Yuhan  ZhongYuhan Zhong3Lilong  HouLilong Hou4Jiao  PanJiao Pan1*
  • 1University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
  • 2Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
  • 3Chengdu Museum, Chengdu, China
  • 4Nankai University, Tianjin, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Shadow puppetry, an integral and crucial component of China's intangible cultural heritage, currently faces the significant threat of microbial degradation. This is primarily due to the organic materials used in its artifacts. This study centers on the shadow puppets housed in the National Shadow Puppetry Museum in Chengdu. By employing Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and high-throughput sequencing techniques, it has revealed a diverse array of co-existing microorganisms on the surfaces of these puppets. These include species from genera such as Aspergillus, Streptomyces, Nocardiopsis, Pseudomonas, and Saccharopolyspora, among others.Eleven microbial species were successfully isolated, wherein four were identified as predominant: Pseudomonas sp. WH. S-B1, Streptomyces sp. WH. S-B2, Nocardiopsis sp. WH. S-B6, and Aspergillus fumigatus WH. S-F2. Notably, these four strains demonstrated the ability to degrade collagen. The antimicrobial experiment results indicated that 0.3% isothiazolinone-based antimicrobial agents BC01 and 50 mg/mL carvacrol exhibited a certain degree of antimicrobial activity against these predominant strains. Overall, this research provides a robust foundation for the conservation of shadow puppet artifacts. It does so by thoroughly analyzing the mechanisms of microbial degradation and screening effective antimicrobial agents.

Keywords: Shadow Puppetry Artifacts, microbial degradation, microbial community, Antimicrobial agents, Cultural relics preservation

Received: 14 Apr 2025; Accepted: 19 May 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Wang, Guan, Wang, Duan, Min, Zhong, Hou and Pan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Jiao Pan, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

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