''Penicillium bilaiae'' is a species of native soil

fungus A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...

that can be used as a PGPM (plant growth-promoting microorganism). R. Kucey first identified that

organic acids An organic acid is an organic compound with acidic properties. The most common organic acids are the carboxylic acids, whose acidity is associated with their carboxyl group –COOH. Sulfonic acids, containing the group –SO2OH, are rel ...

excreted by the microorganism can solubilize soil-bound

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...

. The organism can live in

symbiosis Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...

with several plant species by enhancing phosphate uptake by the

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...

structure while feeding off plant waste products. Native soil populations are often low and can be increased by application as an agricultural inoculant. The species name ''bilaiae'' is a transliteration of the Ukrainian scientist Prof. Vera Bilai for whom it is named in 1950 by Chalabuda T.V., Zabolotny Institute of Microbiology and Virology National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine. Alternative spellings published in the literature are ''bilaji'' or ''bilaii''.

References

bilaiae {{Eurotiomycetes-stub