Serendipitous solution to the problem of culturing Arabidopsis plants in sealed containers for spaceflights of long duration

The Arabidopsis thaliana plant species is tested to determine how a higher plant will develop from seed to maturity when deprived of all gravitational information that it might use to control its growth. Experimental results show that Arabidopsis seedlings can develop to maturity by means of a light-dependent but CO2-independent metabolism that feeds on organic compounds derived from the culture medium. This process is identified as photoassimilation. The ability of a higher plant to nourish itself by photoassimilation and thereby to survive in a heremetically sealed chamber of small dimensions is more than a biochemical curiosity. It allows the botanical investigator to design a culture system convenient for space-flight applications, which ensures isolation of each test plant from the gaseous environment of the spacecraft.