Fig. 1

Effect of AlCl₃ on the viability of protoplasts from C. arabica suspension cells (top figure). Protoplasts were treated with 100 μM AlCl₃ for different periods of time. Protoplasts were then incubated with FDA, and the viability was determined as described in the “Methods” section. The dashed bar (C) shows the viability of protoplasts incubated for 30 min in the absence of AlCl₃, which is representative of 100 % viability. Each bar represents the mean of three independent experiments ±SD. Asterisk, p < 0.05 compared to the control (C). Aluminum enters into C. Arabica protoplasts (bottom figure). Protoplasts were incubated with 50 µM morin for 1 h before AlCl₃ treatment (100 µM) for different time periods (0, 5, 10, 20, or 30 min). Green fluorescence was emitted by Al:morin complexes. These results are representative of three separate experiments. Bars 40 μm