Abstract
We have studied microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) produced by wood rotting fungi in order to develop a novel diagnosis system of wood decay based on the pattern of MVOC production, which enables us to detect the wood rotting fungi invading into internal parts of timber and also to investigate the architecturally hidden part of building. In the present study, five species of brown-rot fungi, Polyporales brown-rot fungi, Fomitopsis palustris and Wolfiporia cocos, Gloeophyllales brown-rot fungus, Gloeophyllum trabeum, and Boletales brown-rot fungi, Coniophora puteana and Serpula lacrymans, were cultivated on wood blocks, and then MVOCs produced by these fungi during wood decay were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to compare the pattern of MVOC production among these fungi. Consequently, 3-octanone was identified as a MVOC which was produced commonly by all fungi used in the present study, while MVOCs specific to each fungus were also observed.
