Identification of mould and blue stain fungi on wood using Polymerase Chain Reaction and Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism

Abstract: Wood inhabiting fungi oposes a great problem for preservation of wooden surfaces everywhere, being the main problem of economic losses of wooden products. A reference collection consisting of 9 different genus constituting of 21 different strains of wood-inhabiting fungi was used for identification of unknown species of mould and blue stain fungi on wood. The fungus DNA from the samples was isolated from malt extract agar. PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) was conducted on rDNA ITS1 and ITS2 regions for amplification of the DNA. The 21 samples were collected to a reference collection for identification of unknown species of fungi on wooden field samples using PCR and T-RFLP (Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism). PCR-based methods, sequencing and T-RFLP were proven to be simple and accurate methods for detection and identification of fungi in their early stage.