Isolation and identification of bacteria and fungi from cinematographic films

Bacteria and fungi present in black and white cinematographic film samples from Spanish archives in Madrid, Barcelona and Gran Canaria were isolated and identified. All samples studied were contaminated. Fourteen strains of bacteria were isolated. Preliminary characterization was carried out by morphological and biochemical-physiological methods, using different commercial assays depending on the bacterial nature. Five species of Staphylococcus, viz. S. epidermidis, S. hominis, S. lentus, S. haemolyticus and S. lugdunensis, and five species of Bacillus, viz. B. amyloliquefaciens, B. subtilis, B. megaterium, B. pichinotyi and B. pumilus, were identified, together with Sphingomonas paucimobilis, Kocuria kristinae and Pasteurella haemolytica. Seventeen strains of filamentous fungi and one yeast, Cryptococcus albidus, were isolated and identified by microsatellite-primed PCR and rDNA sequencing. The fungal strains present in the films consisted of four strains of Aspergillus viz. A. ustus, A. nidulans var.nidulans, A. versicolor, seven Penicillium chrysogenum strains, as well as, Alternaria alternata, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Mucor racemosus, Phoma glomerata and Trichoderma longibrachiatum. Only seven bacterial strains were able to degrade gelatin (binder in photographic emulsions), in contrast to the fungal isolates, all of which liquefied gelatin, with the exception of the yeast Cryptococcus albidus. Most of the microorganisms that were found colonizing the cinematographic films show resistance to adverse environmental conditions.