Diversity of fungi from old Dluwang manuscripts from Mertasinga, Cirebon

In the 17^th century, Javanese handwritten manuscripts were written on dluwang. The material was made from the bark of the paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera Vent.) [1]. Microbial consortia, however, may inhabit ancient manuscripts. Cellulolytic organisms can exploit the paper as substrate [2]. Furthermore, some fungi which are able to grow in dry substrate (xerophilic character) are associated with deterioration of manuscripts [3]. A local collector from Mertasinga, Cirebon, Indonesia, preserves old dluwang manuscripts according to traditional Javanese custom. In our previous study, twenty three fungal isolates were obtained from the teak wardrobe which contained old dluwang manuscripts. The fungal isolates are deposited in the Universitas Indonesia Culture Collection (UICC). The aim of our study was to isolate and identify fungi from old dluwang manuscripts and to identify fungal isolates obtained from previous study. Ten old dluwang manuscripts showed fungal growth, characterized by spore-formation, and pigmentation on the manuscript surfaces. Twenty three fungal isolates were obtained from nine manuscripts. Morphological characterization and molecular approach were applied to identify the fungal strains to species level using Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) region of rDNA. Fifteen fungal species within fourteen genera from dluwang manuscripts were identified as Anthostomella sp., Arthrinium sp., Aspergillus jensenii, Asp. ruber, Cladosporium colocasiae, Cosmospora sp., Curvularia lunata, Flavomyces sp., Fusarium equiseti, Paecilomyces aerugineus, Paraphaeosphaeria sp., Penicillium rubens, Sarocladium sp., and Talaromyces aurantiacus. The genera Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Fusarium, and Penicillium were previously reported from manuscripts, whereas other genera in this study are newly recorded for fungi from dluwang manuscripts. Four fungal species within three genera from the teak wardrobe were identified as Aspergillus flavus, Penicillium crustosum, P. rubens and Talaromyces australis. Fourteen isolates from dluwang manuscripts and 20 isolates from the teak wardrobe were xerophiles. The dluwang manuscripts have been preserved by traditional Javanese custom provides unique environment for selected fungal species. This report highlights the importance of research on fungal diversity on deteriorated cultural and historical heritage.