Abstract: Phosphorus (P), an essential nutrient for growth and development of plants, participates in most biolo-gical metabolic processes in plants. However, soil P availability is low due to strong absorption of minerals to P and the difficulty in the degradation of organic P. Many plant species have evolved mutualistic symbioses with ectomycorrhizal fungi to enhance their P nutrition. In this process, ectomycorrhizal helper bacteria related to soil P solubilizing also play important roles. In this review, we introduced the interactions between ectomycorrhizal fungi and ectomycorrhizal helper phosphate-solubilizing bacteria. We explored the synergistic effects and mechanisms of ectomycorrhizal helper phosphate-solubilizing bacteria and ectomycorrhizal fungi on increasing P availability. Meanwhile, we reviewed the processes of P uptake by ectomycorrhizal fungi. Furthermore, we outlined the prospects for studying the interactions between ectomycorrhizal fungi and ectomycorrhizal helper bacteria in promoting plant P uptake.

Key words: ectomycorrhiza, ectomycorrhizal helper phosphate-solubilizing bacteria, phosphorus solubilizing, phosphorus transport.