Release of acid phosphatase from extraradical hyphae of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Rhizophagus clarus

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi enhance plant uptake of available phosphorus (P) from soil through their extraradical hyphae. The mechanism underlying this P uptake enhanced by AM fungi is the increase in the surface area for absorption of available P. Little is known about utilization of unavailable P by AM fungi. We investigated whether extraradical hyphae of AM fungi release acid phosphatase (ACP). Sterilized Andosol was packed in pots that were separated into the mycorrhizal and hyphal compartments with a nylon net of 30-mu m pore size. Seeds of Allium fistulosum L. were inoculated or uninoculated with the AM fungus Rhizophagus clarus (Nicolson & Schenck) Walker & Schu ss ler. Mullite ceramic tubes were buried in the soil of each compartment, and soil solution was collected. A. fistulosum L. and Linum usitatissimum L. inoculated with R. clarus were grown in sand culture and in vitro monoxenic culture, respectively. Uninoculated A. fistulosum L was grown in hydroponic culture to collect root exudate. The soil solution, hyphal extracts, root extract and root exudates were subjected to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis. Shoot P concentration, shoot P content and shoot dry weight were higher in the inoculated treatment than in the uninoculated treatment. Activity staining of the gel revealed that ACP activity at 187kDa was observed in the soil solution in the inoculation treatment, and in the hyphal extract collected from sand culture and in vitro monoxenic culture, but neither in the root exudate of non-mycorrhizal plant grown in the hydroponic culture nor in the root extracts irrespective of mycorrhizal status. Those results provide strong evidence that the corresponding activity in the soil solutions in soil culture is of R. clarus CK001 origin. These findings suggest that the fungus releases ACP from extraradical hyphae into the hyphosphere.