AbstractPhytoplasmas are wall-less and pleomorphic bacterial pathogens that cause considerable yield losses in more than 1,000 plant species worldwide. They are associated with the presence of different symptoms including witches’ broom, phyllody, virescence, yellowing. The aim of the present work was to analyze the changes in protein contents, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), peroxidase (POX), catalase (CAT), polyphenol oxidase (PPO) in field-grown chickpea plants (Cicer arietinum) in the presence of phytoplasma infection. The activities of PAL, PPO and POX were observed to increase in the infected plants compared with healthy plants. The amount of total soluble proteins, chlorophyll content and catalase activity was significantly higher in healthy leaves. In conclusion the observed alterations could be considered as the response and the adaptation of chickpea plants to the presence of phytoplasmas.
Vindyasree et al. (Wed,) studied this question.