| Summary: | Among the physiological features of the infected plant, the pathological increase in respiration is a striking one. This altered rate of respiration, usually measured in terms of oxygen uptake, starts before symptoms of disease appear, rises gradually to a maximum as the disease develops, and declines rapidly as death is approached. These observations on abnormal rate of gas exchange indicate that the enzyme-catalysed processes resulting in oxygen absorption are accelerated in the host tissue as a result of infection. A natural question is then, what enzymes are involved in this acceleration. Among the great variety of enzymes that could possibly be involved, cytochrome oxidase can be regarded as an important one, as it functions as terminal oxidase in the phosphorylating electron transport system of the mitochondria.
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