Two ectomycorrhizal species, Laccaria laccata (Scop, ex Fr.) Berk & Br. and Paxillus involutus (Batch, ex Fr.) Fr., were grown aseptically in liquid media to determine their ability to use soluble phytate as a sole source of phosphorus. Efficiency of glucose utilization and rates of acid production were also determined. Both species grew well with phytate as the sole source of phosphorus and released large amounts of inorganic phosphorus to the medium. However, L. laccata hydrolysed the phytate during exponential growth, whereas P. involutus cultures showed accumulation of inorganic phosphate during the senescence stage, suggesting that hydrolysis was occurring after release of intracellular phosphatases from lysing cells in the latter case and by surface-active enzymes in the former. Paxillus involutus had a lower glucose utilization efficiency per unit biomass than L. laccata. Paxillus involutus also acidified the growing medium more strongly than L. laccata and it released large amounts of pigmented substances into the medium.
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Hilger et al. (1989) studied this question.