CLAUDIA NOME1*, PAULO CÉSAR MAGALHÃES2, ELIZABETH OLIVEIRA2, SERGIO NOME, IRMA GRACIELA LAGUNA1
BIOCELL, Vol.33, No.2, pp. 133-136, 2009, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2009.33.133
Abstract Maize plants infected with Spiroplasma kunkelii show symptoms similar to that of plants in a magnesium-deficient soil, and it has been shown that the spiroplasma alters the plants’ magnesium absorption. In the current study we compared changes associated to either spiroplasma infection, two soil magnesium levels and their combinations. Plant symptoms were recorded and correlated with transmission electron microscopy observations. Plants grown on a high magnesium treatment showed no macroscopical alterations nor organelle ultrastructural alterations, while plants on a low magnesium treatment showed macroscopical vein yellowing and, ultrastructurally, they had most chloroplasts and mitochondrial membranes altered.… More >