Leonardo da Vinci is famous for his elaborate, nuanced artwork and advanced technical ideas. But new research has revealed another level of complexity in his drawings: the hidden world of small life-forms on his artwork.
These findings could help create a microbiome “catalog” for artwork, the researchers said. Each piece contained a specific enough collection of microorganisms that researchers could later re-identify from its study of microscopic biology.
And the microbiomes of drawings usually had enough key elements that researchers could find authentic drawings based on differences in their microbiomes, or stored in different conditions for centuries.
The researchers also showed that Da Vinci’s drawings contained significantly different microbiomes than expected, containing many bacteria and human DNA – possibly the result of centuries of handling by art restorers and others.
Microbes known to degrade paper were also present over time, showing why the efforts of those restore founders were necessary.
The study is akin to proof-of-concept, showing how microbiome, in the future, reveals an unexpected history of some artwork or helps to detect fakes.
Researchers examined living and dead, microscopic biological material in the master’s seven “symbolic” drawings and found unexpected variations of bacteria, fungi and human DNA.
Much of that material probably landed well on sketches after Da Vinci’s death 501 years ago, so DNA (or much of it) probably comes from others who have handled drawings for centuries, not polymath itself. But there is a story to be told in the new biological material.
The researchers wrote that the biggest surprise was the high concentration of bacteria in the drawings, especially compared to fungi.
Previous studies have shown that fungi dominate the microbiomes of paper objects such as these drawings, but, in this case, abnormal amounts of bacteria (possibly fl flies that pop at some point on the paper) from humans and organisms were present.
“Together, insects, restoration workers and geographic localization have all left an invisible eye on the drawings,” the researchers said in a statement.
“[But] When Leonardo da Vinci drew his pictures, it is difficult to say whether any malicious elements were produced from them. “
Probably DNA came mostly from people who have re-established the work that began in the 15th century. The team did not analyze the genetic material in detail to see at the level of detail who specifically came from it.
For a detailed study of various biological substances, the researchers used a new tool called nanopore, a genetic sequencing method that breaks down quickly and analyzes genetic material.
The same researchers have studied artistic microbiomes in the past to determine how statues were stored when smugglers were hiding. Going forward, they said, even this technique could reveal new details of the history of well-studied artwork.
The study was published November 20 in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology.
This article was originally published by Live Science. Read the original article here.
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