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Transgene expression patterns indicate that spaceflight affects stress signal perception and transduction in arabidopsisThe use of plants as integral components of life support systems remains a cornerstone of strategies for long-term human habitation of space and extraterrestrial colonization. Spaceflight experiments over the past few decades have refined the hardware required to grow plants in low-earth orbit and have illuminated fundamental issues regarding spaceflight effects on plant growth and development. Potential incipient hypoxia, resulting from the lack of convection-driven gas movement, has emerged as a possible major impact of microgravity. We developed transgenic Arabidopsis containing the alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) gene promoter linked to the beta-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene to address specifically the possibility that spaceflight induces the plant hypoxia response and to assess whether any spaceflight response was similar to control terrestrial hypoxia-induced gene expression patterns. The staining patterns resulting from a 5-d mission on the orbiter Columbia during mission STS-93 indicate that the Adh/GUS reporter gene was activated in roots during the flight. However, the patterns of expression were not identical to terrestrial control inductions. Moreover, although terrestrial hypoxia induces Adh/GUS expression in the shoot apex, no apex staining was observed in the spaceflight plants. This indicates that either the normal hypoxia response signaling is impaired in spaceflight or that spaceflight inappropriately induces Adh/GUS activity for reasons other than hypoxia.
Document ID
20040112412
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Paul, A. L.
(University of Florida Gainesville, Florida 32611, United States)
Daugherty, C. J.
Bihn, E. A.
Chapman, D. K.
Norwood, K. L.
Ferl, R. J.
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
June 1, 2001
Publication Information
Publication: Plant physiology
Volume: 126
Issue: 2
ISSN: 0032-0889
Subject Category
Life Sciences (General)
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
manned
Non-NASA Center
NASA Discipline Plant Biology
short duration
Flight Experiment
STS-93 Shuttle Project

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