The Domestic Dry Rot Fungus, Serpula lacrymans, its natural origins and biological control

The dry rot fungus, Serpula lacrymans, is one of the most important wood decay fungi in the built environment causing many hundreds of millions of pounds of damage each year in many countries around the world. This Basidiomycete is particularly common in countries of northern Europe especially where bad maintenance, particularly of old properties, and inappropriate design or alteration may result in water ingress followed by timber decay caused by the fungus. Notably, however, S.lacrymans is very rarely found outside the built environment in Europe, with there being only one published report of its occurrence in Europe in its presumed natural environment, the forest floor (Kotlaba, 1992). Reports of the fungus from other parts of the world are also limited, although there is now good evidence that S.lacrymans resides in regions of the Himalayan foothills; however, it does not appear to be prevalemt in that natural environment (Bagchee, 1954; White et al, 1997). Unlike other fungi discussed in this volume S.lacrymans cannot be considered to be a tropical fungus, since high tropical temperatures would be lethal to this temperature sensitive organism (White et al (1995); Cartwright and Findlay (1958); Segmuller and Walchli (1981)). Our interest is in the development of new treatments to counteract the organism and to determine, if possible, how it has developed such a widespread distribution in the built environment from, it would appear, a sparse distribution in the wild.