Fungal diversity in the temple with an Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) molecular and morphological approach

Red bricks and andesite stones comprise most of Indonesia's temple architecture. Red brick is a highly porous building material that weathers rapidly in temples. Physical and biological factors are the main causes of temple weathering. Rain and other physical elements can raise the temple's humidity, encouraging the growth of lichen and fungus. Many studies have been conducted to investigate the fungal variety in temples made of andesite stones. Still, the diversity found in these studies has only been identified at the genus level. This research aimed to determine the variety of fungi in the temples by employing morphological and molecular approaches like Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) biomarkers. Macroscopic characterization involves visual inspection of a colony's color, edges, texture, diameter, shape, and surface for morphological identification. Microscopic characterization uses the slide culture method to observe reproductive and hyphal structures. Molecular identification includes DNA extraction with the Genomic ex Promega Corp Wizard kit, ITS marker-based DNA amplification, and visualization with a Gel Documenter, DNA sequencing, BLAST searches for species identification, and phylogenetic tree reconstruction using MEGA 11. Class Eurotiomycetes, which includes Talaromyces funiculosus (CB L1B isolate), Talaromyces purpureogenus (CB L3A isolate), Penicillium oxalicum (CB L4A isolate), Penicillium cataractarum (CT TL3 isolate), and Aspergillus aflatoxiformans (CT TL4 isolate), was the most prevalent among the identified species from the classes Sordariomycetes and Eurotiomycetes. Purpureocillium lilacinum (CBL1C isolate), Trichoderma anaharzianum (CB L3B isolate), and Fusarium equiseti (CT L41 isolate) were the discovered species from the Sordariomycetes class.