Isolating fungi from wood has long involved culturing on selective media followed by identification using various keys. This process can be cumbersome, costly, and, most importantly, not always capable of detecting all of the fungi present. The recent development of molecular methods for isolation and identification of fungi has created tremendous opportunities for expanding our knowledge of the microbial ecology of wood. Among the issues with these methods is the ability of some wood extracts to inhibit the amplification of DNA by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), but it is unknown whether the resins in wood-based composites and wood preservatives are similarly inhibitory. A variety of wood species and composites were inoculated with wood decay fungi and the resulting fungal DNA was extracted from the decayed wood. It was not always possible to successfully extract DNA. In order to determine if the failure was caused by interferences or with a lack of fungal DNA present, known quantities of purified fungal DNA were added to sawdust of various species with or without preservatives during the extraction procedure and then recovered. Fungal DNA was recovered from nearly all samples including red oak, OSB, plywood, wood plastic composites as well as wood treated with pentachlorophenol, CCA, ACZA and other copper based preservatives.

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