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Seedborne fungal contamination: consequences in space-grown wheatPlants grown in microgravity are subject to many environmental stresses that may promote microbial growth and result in disease symptoms. Wheat (cv. Super Dwarf) recovered from an 8-day mission aboard a NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) space shuttle showed disease symptoms, including girdling of leaf sheaths and chlorosis and necrosis of leaf and root tissues. A Neotyphodium species was isolated from the seed and leaf sheaths of symptomatic wheat used in the spaceflight mission. Certain isozymes of a peroxidase unique to extracts from the microgravity-grown plants were observed in extracts from earth-grown Neotyphodium-infected plants but were not present in noninfected wheat. The endophytic fungus was eliminated from the wheat seed by prolonged heat treatment at 50 degrees C followed by washes with water at 50 degrees C. Plants from wheat seed infected with the Neotyphodium endophyte were symptomless when grown under greenhouse conditions, whereas symptoms appeared after only 4 days of growth in closed containers. Disease spread from an infected plant to noninfected plants in closed containers. Dispersion via spores was found on asymptomatic plants at distances of 7 to 18 cm from infected plants. The size and shape of the conidia, mycelia, and phialide-bearing structures and the ability to grow rapidly on carbohydrates, especially xylose, resembled the characteristics of N. chilense, which is pathogenic on orchard grass, Doctylis glomerati. The Neotyphodium wheat isolate caused disease symptoms on other cereals (wheat cv. Malcolm, orchard grass, barley, and maize) grown in closed containers.
Document ID
20040089361
Acquisition Source
Kennedy Space Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Bishop, D. L.
(Utah State University Logan 84322-5305, United States)
Levine, H. G.
Kropp, B. R.
Anderson, A. J.
Hood, E. E.
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
November 1, 1997
Publication Information
Publication: Phytopathology
Volume: 87
Issue: 11
ISSN: 0031-949X
Subject Category
Life Sciences (General)
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAG10-01140
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
NASA Discipline Plant Biology
STS-63 Shuttle Project
Non-NASA Center
short duration
manned
Flight Experiment

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