Identification of bacterial taxa in archaeological waterlogged wood

The microscopic and molecular techniques described in this study are aimed at understanding the degradation processes of the anatomical structure of submerged archaeological wood, correlating it to the degradation induced by bacteria. The SEM micrographs showed alterations of the wooden structure due to bacterial colonization, as well as the presence of pyrite framboids. The difficulty of extracting bacterial DNA from wooden fragments belonging to submerged finds is well-known, due to the presence of many inhibitors; this study describes some extraction and in vitro amplification protocols for wooden submerged finds. The results of the molecular investigations, based on the analysis of specific sequences of microbial genomic DNA enabled us to detect the presence of cellulolytic and ligninolytic bacteria, in addition to iron-oxidizing or sulfatereducing bacteria, otherwise undetectable by traditional in vitro culture methods.