We have developed a routine way to isolate genes directly from the basidiomycete fungus, Schizophyllum commune. Plasmid DNA from a genomic gene library was used to isolate five specific genes by complementation of Schizophyllum mutations via transformation. The mutant strains were deficient in the ability to synthesize either adenine (ade2 and ade5), uracil (ura1, encoding orotidine-5'-phosphate decarboxylase; OMPdecase), tryptophan (trp1, encoding indole-3-glycerol phosphate synthetase; IGPS) or para aminobenzoic acid (pab1). In each case, Southern analysis revealed that transformation to prototrophy was concomitant with the integration of vector sequence into the genome of the S. commune mutant. Total DNA from transformants was restricted, religated, and used to transform E. coli. Ampicillin resistant plasmids were recovered from E. coli and tested for their ability to transform the corresponding mutant of S. commune. Plasmids complementing the ade2, ade5, pab1, trp1, and ura1 mutations were recovered.