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Comparative Floral Development of Mir-Grown and Ethylene-Treated, Earth-Grown Super Dwarf WheatTo study plant growth in microgravity, we grew Super Dwarf wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in the Svet growth chamber onboard the orbiting Russian space station, Mir, and in identical ground control units at the Institute of BioMedical Problems in Moscow, Russia. Seedling emergence was 56% and 73% in the two root-module compartments on Mir and 75% and 90% on Earth. Growth was vigorous (produced ca. 1 kg dry mass), and individual plants produced 5 to 8 tillers on Mir compared with 3 to 5 on Earth-grown controls. Upon harvest in space and return to Earth, however, all inflorescences of the flight-grown plants were sterile. To ascertain if Super Dwarf wheat responded to the 1.1 to 1.7 micromol/mol atmospheric levels of ethylene measured on the Mir prior to and during flowering, plants on earth were exposed to 0, 1, 3, 10, and 20 micromol/mol of ethylene gas and 1200 micromol/mol CO2 from 7d after emergence to maturity. As in our Mir wheat, plant height, awn length, and the flag leaf were significantly shorter in the ethylene-exposed plants than in controls; inflorescences also exhibited 100% sterility. Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) examination of florets from Mir-grown and ethylene-treated, earth-grown plants showed that development ceased prior to anthesis, and the anthers did not dehisce. Laser scanning confocal microscopic (LSCM) examination of pollen grains from Mir and ethylene-treated plants on earth exhibited zero, one, and occasionally two, but rarely three nuclei; pollen produced in the absence of ethylene was always trinucleate, the normal condition. The scarcity of trinucleate pollen, abrupt cessation of floret development prior to anthesis, and excess tillering in wheat plants on Mir and in ethylene-containing atmospheres on earth build a strong case for the ethylene on Mir as the agent for the induced male sterility and other symptoms, rather than microgravity.
Document ID
20020048664
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Campbell, William F.
(Utah State Univ. Logan, UT United States)
Salisbury, Frank B.
(Utah State Univ. Logan, UT United States)
Bugbee, Bruce
(Utah State Univ. Logan, UT United States)
Klassen, Steven
(Utah State Univ. Logan, UT United States)
Naegle, Erin
(Utah State Univ. Logan, UT United States)
Strickland, Darren T.
(Utah State Univ. Logan, UT United States)
Bingham, Gail E.
(Utah State Univ. Logan, UT United States)
Levinskikh, Margarita
(Institute of Biomedical Problems Moscow, USSR)
Iljina, Galena M.
(Moscow State Univ. Russia)
Veselova, Tatjana D.
(Moscow State Univ. Russia)
Date Acquired
August 20, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2001
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Plant Physiology
Publisher: Urban and Fischer Verlag
Volume: 158
ISSN: 0176-1617
Subject Category
Life Sciences (General)
Report/Patent Number
Paper-6057
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NCC2-831
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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