We report the first successful culturing and confirmation of identity
(via
sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis,
SDS–PAGE) of Serpula lacrymans (the dry rot fungus) derived
from basidiomes and mycelia growing in the ‘wild’. The fungus
was
found growing on well decayed coniferous wood within the Narkanda region
of
the Western Himalayas at between 2800 and
3100 m above sea level (a.s.l.). The ‘wild’ habitat of the
fungus
is described, as is the isolation of Serpula himantioides also
found in
these regions. Temperature, osmotic potential, initial pH and air-current
influenced the average colony extension rate of ‘wild’ and
a
selection of building isolates on 2% malt extract agar. The ‘wild’
and building isolates behaved as two separate cohorts; the ‘wild’
isolates appeared to be less affected by extremes of temperature, whereas
building isolates extended more rapidly at the moderate
microenvironmental regimes.