Comparing bacterial community fingerprints from white colonizations in Altamira Cave (Spain)

Monitoring bacterial communities is critical for assessing biodeterioration among other processes. This study presents a strategy and an example of comparative analysis of bacterial communities developing in a cave environment, Altamira Cave which contains unique paleolithic paintings. The analyzed question was whether white colonizations discovered throughout the cave corresponded to similar or different bacterial communities. Molecular fingerprints were obtained by PCR–DGGE from DNA and RNA and statistically compared. Results based on DNA analysis showed that a similar bacterial community was present in white colonizations throughout the cave. Fingerprints based on RNA confirmed the similarity of the major metabolically active components of these communities. The proposed procedure confirmed that white colonizations in Altamira Cave were a consequence of the development of a single complex bacterial community, and the method proves to be highly useful for comparative analysis of microbial communities, including biodeteriorating processes and any other comparative analysis of bacterial communities.