NOTE: extended to 2/7/2013 per NSSC information (Ed., 1/27/2012)

This proposed research focuses on the effects of gravity on basic cellular mechanisms and processes in plants, so it is relevant to the emphasis on using Arabidopsis as a model system in developmental biology highlighted in the current NRA. The PI's group has extensive experience with the use of Arabidopsis in experiments on the Space Shuttle and the ISS. Preliminary data on the growth of seedlings in the BRIC-LED system and from the gene profiling studies performed during our recent experiments on the ISS are presented to show the feasibility of the proposed project. Improved knowledge of the basic mechanistic processes that will be the focus of this research is vital to develop ways to use plants in extraterrestrial bioregenerative life support systems.

In the last year, we continued morphometric studies of the space-grown seedlings with light and electron microscopy. We also focused on gene profiling studies by using microarray techniques.

NOTE: extended to 2/7/2013 per NSSC information (Ed., 1/27/2012)

This proposed research focuses on the effects of gravity on basic cellular mechanisms and processes in plants, so it is relevant to the emphasis on using Arabidopsis as a model system in developmental biology highlighted in the current NRA. The PI's group has extensive experience with the use of Arabidopsis in experiments on the Space Shuttle and the ISS. Preliminary data on the growth of seedlings in the BRIC-LED system and from the gene profiling studies performed during our recent experiments on the ISS are presented to show the feasibility of the proposed project. Improved knowledge of the basic mechanistic processes that will be the focus of this research is vital to develop ways to use plants in extraterrestrial bioregenerative life support systems.

Although the long-term objective was to study the role of the actin cytoskeleton in gravity perception, during the past year, we focused on the analysis of morphology of seedlings that developed in microgravity. While previous spaceflight studies noted deleterious morphological effects due to the accumulation of ethylene gas, no such effects were observed in seedlings grown using the BRIC system. Seed germination was 89% in the spaceflight experiment and 91% in the ground control, and seedlings grew equally well in both conditions. However, roots of space-grown seedlings exhibited a significant difference (compared to the ground controls) in overall growth patterns in that they skewed to one direction. In addition, a greater number of adventitious roots formed from the axis of the hypocotyls in the flight-grown plants. Our hypothesis is that an endogenous response in plants causes the roots to skew and that this default growth response is largely masked by the normal 1-g conditions on Earth.

This proposed research focuses on the effects of gravity on basic cellular mechanisms and processes in plants, so it is relevant to the emphasis on using Arabidopsis as a model system in developmental biology highlighted in the current NRA. The PI's group has extensive experience with the use of Arabidopsis in experiments on the Space Shuttle and the ISS. Preliminary data on the growth of seedlings in the BRIC-LED system and from the gene profiling studies performed during our recent experiments on the ISS are presented to show the feasibility of the proposed project. Improved knowledge of the basic mechanistic processes that will be the focus of this research is vital to develop ways to use plants in extraterrestrial bioregenerative life support systems.

The overall goal of this study is to correlate results from gene profiling with the cytological investigations conducted through these three microscopy techniques to promote a more complete understanding of the effects of gravity on basic cellular mechanisms and processes in plants.

This proposed research focuses on the effects of gravity on basic cellular mechanisms and processes in plants, so it is relevant to the emphasis on using Arabidopsis as a model system in developmental biology highlighted in the current NRA. The PI's group has extensive experience with the use of Arabidopsis in experiments on the Space Shuttle and the ISS. Preliminary data on the growth of seedlings in the BRIC-LED system and from the gene profiling studies performed during our recent experiments on the ISS are presented to show the feasibility of the proposed project. Improved knowledge of the basic mechanistic processes that will be the focus of this research is vital to develop ways to use plants in extraterrestrial bioregenerative life support systems.