In the present study, we tested the practical value of several DNA-based methods to identify at the species level the most common wood-decaying fungi infecting buildings. We successfully extracted and amplified fungal DNA from pure cultures of twelve species of wood-inhabiting fungi, from oak and pine wood infected in laboratory with known strains, and from unknown field samples of wood collected from French buildings. Species identification was performed through PCR-RFLP analyses, species-specific priming PCR and sequencing of the rDNA ITS region. Our results mostly agreed with the data provided by previous authors, but also revealed some weaknesses of the methods used and provided additional information for future developments.

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