Genetic studies on house rot fungi and a rapid diagnosis

The paper describes genetic studies on house rot fungi and a rapid identifi cation technique for them, viz. the true dry rot fungus Serpula lacrymans, the wild merulius S, himantioides, the cellar fungus Coniophara puteana and the pore house fungi Antrodia vaillantii and Tyromyces placenta. The metho d ARDRA-ITS uses the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) which is amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Amplific ations were directly performed from agar plate mycelium and even from funga l tissue taken from infected substrate in a building without preceding fung al pure cultures and DNA preparation. For fungal differentiation, the ampli fied rDNA-ITS region was digested with the restriction endonucleases HaeIII and TaqI and the obtained ITS fragments separated by agarose gel electroph oresis. The specific DNA-fragment fingerprint allowed the identification of an unknown fungal sample by comparison of its pattern with those of contro l fungi within one day from sampling to diagnosis.