ABSTRACT
Lead resistant strains, isolated from red strain of Certosa of Pavia facade, were characterised by microbiological and molecular analyses. More lead resistant strains till 1500 g/1 were Bacillus sp. and Staphylococcus sp. Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis profiles of stained and unstained marble samples show a lower biodiversity in the microbial community colonising red areas. A lead resistant strain was identified by sequencing of 16S rDNA fragment as Staphylococcus strain LMG-19417. The comparison between the stained and unstained areas showed that, at higher lead concentrations, the consortium from the stained samples resulted significantly more resistant than that from the unstained samples. In preliminary investigations by using specific primer for the czc amplification the expected band of 467 bp was obtained only in three Staphylococcus resistant isolates. The amplification of pco gave weak positive signals of 600 bp in two different Staphylococcus strains, while stronger bands in a Bacillus strain and in the enriched consortia were obtained.
