Isolates of the dry rot fungus Serpula lacrymans and the wild merulius S. himantioides were investigated by amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analyses (ARDRA) of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS). The technique uses the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify the variable region of the ITS between the conserved 18S and 28S genes of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA). The ITS region of all isolates of Serpula lacrymans and S. himantioides was successfully amplified. The length of the amplified product was about 630 bp. Subsequent double digest of the ITS with the restriction endonucleases Haelli and Taql separated the closely related fungi by species-specific fragments. Thus, ARDRA-ITS proved to be suited for the detection of the dry rot fungus.

Download document (922 kb)
free for the members of IRG. Available if purchased.

Purchase this document