Dear colleague,

There are lots of speculation on this topic having its origin from the papers on rock-eating mycorrhizal fungi https://www.nature.com/articles/39493 and Lapeyrie F, Ranger J, Vairelles D 1991 Phosphate-solubilizing activity of ectomycorrhizal fungi in vitro. Canadian Journal of Botany 69, 342–346.

But now phosphate-solubilizing activity is confirmed mainly for ericoid mycorrhizal fungi, see

Gibson BR and Mitchell DT 2004 Nutritional infl uences on the solubilization of metal phosphate by ericoid mycorrhizal fungi. Mycological Research 108, 947–954.

Martino E, Perotto S, Parsons R, Gadd GM 2003 Solubilization of insoluble inorganic zinc compounds by ericoid mycorrhizal fungi derived from heavy metal polluted sites. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 35, 133–141.

Fungi of other mycorrhizal types are thought to solubilize phosphate not by themselves but indirectly via synergistic interactions with mycorrhizosphere bacteria having this ability, e.g., Pseudomonas and you can find lots of such data in Inet.

With best regards,

Elena