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Updated: Aug 4, 2026
DNA Fingerprinting of Mycobacterium leprae Strains Using Variable Number Tandem Repeat (VNTR) - Fragment Length Analysis (FLA)
Published on: July 15, 2011
Extremely low AFLP variation in the european dry rot fungus (Serpula lacrymans): implications for
Håvard Kauserud1, Olaf Schmidt, Malin Elfstrand
1Department of Biology, University of Oslo, Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, Norway. haavarka@bio.uio.no
Abstract:
The devastating dry rot fungus, Serpula lacrymans, has a worldwide occurrence in buildings. We investigated the genetic variation in European isolates belonging to five vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs) by AFLP analysis. Our results indicate that S. lacrymans in Europe is genetically extremely homogenous; only five out of 308 scored AFLP fragments (1.6 %) were polymorphic. In contrast, S. himantioides, the closest relative of S. lacrymans, possessed 31.3 % polymorphic fragments (84 out of 268). AFLP polymorphisms observed in S. lacrymans were distributed independently of the VCG boundaries, indicating that the VCGs do not represent clones but that different genets of S. lacrymans frequently share similar vic alleles due to low genetic variation. Thus, although the European S. lacrymans is genetically extremely homogeneous, and our results suggest that the species reproduces and spreads mainly sexually and not by clones.
