Integrated biological and chemical characterisation of a pair of leonardesque canal lock gates

The Museo Nazionale della Scienza e Tecnologia “Leonardo da Vinci” in Milan is exposing two pairs of canal lock gates, used to control the water flow system, whose design appears Leonardo’s Codex Atlanticus. wood present gates has been deeply characterised by mean a multidisciplinary investigation involving i) DNA barcoding fragments; ii) microbial community characterisation, and iii) chemical analyses. revealed that fragments belonged species widely middle age: Fagus sylvatica Picea abies . characterisations were based on use ionic liquid as dissolving medium order analyse entire cell wall material means Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) 2D-NMR-HSQC techniques. This analytical approach was able highlight complex nature degradation occurred during gate operation (XVI-XVIII centuries): an intricate interplay between populations (i.e. Shewanella ), inorganic factors iron from nails), physical lignocellulosic material.