# Comparison of Methods to Identify and Monitor Mold Damages in Buildings
## 3 Results
### Fungi Growing on Building Materials Identified by Microscopy  
The most abundant species colonizing the different building materials, as revealed by direct microscopy, were _Chuetomium globosum_, _Stachybotrys charatum_, and species of the genera _Cladosporium_, _Acemonium_, _Trichoderma_, _Penicillium_, _Aspergillus_, _Ullocadium_, and _Niesslia_ (Table 1). In addition, the growth of Actinobacteria was observed in several samples. Figure 3: Mold mycobiota, as revealed by DNA metabarcoding: (**a**) NMDS plot comparing the fungal community composition in 48 mold samples collected from different materials; (**b**) the most abundant fungal genera (RA \(\geq\) 5%) identified in the mold samples collected from different materials, excluding those materials represented by a single sample, i.e., concrete, paint, and plastic. The comparisons of the microscopy results with those obtained by DNA metabarcoding in a sample-by-sample basis are shown in three different tables: Table 2 for the apartments that include two dust samples (damaged and central rooms), Supplementary Table S2 for those with only one dust sample (damaged room), and Supplementary Table S3 for those without any dust samples. In general, both approaches were able to identify the dominant colonizing species, showing the matching taxonomic assignments to some extent. As much as 79.2% of the microscopy-based identifications were confirmed by the DNA analyses at the genus level, where 66.6% of them were included in the list of the most abundant genera (>1% of sequences; Table 2, Tables S2 and S3). In contrast, only 36.7% of the DNA-based identifications as major genera (>1%) could be detected by microscopy. This percentage dropped drastically when the whole list of the genera reported by DNA metabarcoding was included. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l l} \hline  & & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Materials 1 (\(n\))**} \\ \hline
**Taxa** & **Gypsum Board (19)** & **Chipboard (4)** & **Wood (12)** & **MDF (3)** & **Building Paper (3)** & **Wall Paper (4)** \\ \hline _Chatonium_ & 15.8 & 25 & 16.6 & & \\ _Chatonium globosum_ & 47.4 & 25 & & 66.6 & 25 \\ _Stachbottys chartarum_ & 36.8 & & 8.3 & & 25 \\ _Stachbottys achitan_ & 5.3 & & & & 25 \\ _Chatosporium_ & 31.6 & 25 & 25 & & 25 \\ _Penicillium_ & 31.6 & 50 & 25 & 33.3 & 75 \\ _Acemonium_ & 26.3 & 25 & & & \\ _Acemonium oobutum_ & & & 8.3 & & \\ _Acepyzillus versicolor_ & 21 & & & 33.3 & \\ _Acepyzillus niger_ & & & 8.3 & & \\ _Acepyzillus penicillioides_ & & & 8.3 & & \\ _Acepyzillus glaucus_ & & & & 33.3 & \\ _Ullodatum_ & 15.8 & & 8.3 & & \\ _Acecricha erinacea_ & 10.5 & & & & \\ _Rhizopus_ & 10.5 & & & & \\ _Pseudoallescheria_ & 5.3 & & 8.3 & & \\ _Scopalariopsis brevicavails_ & 5.3 & & & & \\ _Tritiracthium_ & 5.3 & 25 & & & \\ _Sependium_ & 5.3 & & & & \\ _Monadicys_ & & 25 & & & \\ _Trichoderma_ & & & 16.6 & & \\ _Conophora puteana_ & & & 16.6 & & \\ _Wallemia schi_ & & & & 25 \\ _Bjerkandera adusta_ & & & 8.3 & & \\ _Phoma glomerta_ & & & 8.3 & & \\ _Nisselia heterophora_ & & & & 33.3 & \\ Black fungi & 5.3 & & 8.3 & 100 & \\ Actinobacteria 2 & 10.5 & & & & \\ \hline \end{tabular} \({}^{1}\) MDF: medium-density fiberboard. Materials represented by a unique sample (concrete, paint, and plastic) were excluded. 2 Actionobacteria were also included because of their abundant growth in some of the samples.  
\end{table} 
Table 1: Prevalence (% of samples) of fungal taxa reported by direct microscopy of tape lifts collected from mold-contaminated building materials. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l l l l} \hline  & & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Microscopy Results**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Fungal DNA Metabarcoding Data (Genus Level)**} \\ \hline  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l l l l} \hline  & & & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Microscopy Results**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Fungal DNA Meibaxcoding Data (Genus Level)**} \\ \hline
**Model Sample** & **Apartment** & \begin{tabular}{l} **Material;** \\ **Visual Aspect** \\ \end{tabular}  & & &