COMPARISON OF SERPULA-LACRYMANS ISOLATES USING RAPD PCR

Four isolates of Serpula lacrymans from Australia and one from each of Germany, Japan and Poland were examined for their similarity to the r eference isolate FPRL 12C (from England) by RAPD PCR. Results were com pared with those published by others using SDS-PAGE and found to be si milar. RAPD PCR was shown to be a fast and reliable technique with pot ential for detecting S. lacrymans as a cause of wood decay. Other poss ible applications for this assay could include epidemiological and phy logenetic studies.