Coffee (Coffea arabica L.) is one of the most economically important
crops in the world, and coffee plantations are mainly confined to acidic
soils. Studies of Al toxicity in coffee cell suspensions have reported that a
correlation exists between some of the toxic effects of Al on cell growth
and the metabolism of organic acids [2]. In addition, some enzymatic
functions play an important role in signal transduction mechanisms.
Regarding signal transduction Al inhibited the activity of the phospholipase
C (PLC) enzyme in cell suspensions of coffee [3]. PLC is involved in
the phosphoinositide signaling pathway and catalyzes the hydrolysis of