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Molecular and Plant Physiological Analyses of the Microgravity Effects on Multigeneration Studies of Arabidopsis thaliana (Multigen)
04.26.13

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Overview | Description | Applications | Operations | Results | Publications | Imagery

Experiment Overview

This content was provided by Tor-Henning Iversen, Ph.D., and is maintained in a database by the ISS Program Science Office.

Information provided courtesy of the Erasmus Experiment Archive.
Brief Summary

Molecular and Plant Physiological Analyses of the Microgravity Effects on Multigeneration Studies of Arabidopsis thaliana (Multigen) will grow Arabidopsis thaliana, a small flowering plant related to cabbage and mustard, in orbit for three generations. The results of this investigation will support future plans to grow plants on the long-duration transit to Mars. This is a cooperative investigation with the European Space Agency, ESA.

Principal Investigator(s)

  • Tor-Henning Iversen, Ph.D., Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    • Co-Investigator(s)/Collaborator(s)

    Information Pending

    Developer(s)

    European Space Agency (ESA), Noordwijk, , Netherlands
    Poli Design, Milano, , Italy

    Sponsoring Space Agency

    European Space Agency (ESA)

    Sponsoring Organization

    Information Pending

    Research Benefits

    Information Pending

    ISS Expedition Duration:

    April 2007 - April 2008

    Expeditions Assigned

    15,16

    Previous ISS Missions

    While Multigen is a new experiment, other studies of plant growth and development have been conducted on the ISS. The Advanced Astroculture (ADVASC) payload was operated during ISS Increments 2, 4, and 5. This experiment studied the ability to grow mature seed bearing plants in microgravity.

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    Experiment Description

    Research Overview

    • To achieve successful long duration space exploration a renewable food source for the astronauts must be available.


    • This experiment will examine the possibility of sustainable plant growth for long-duration space exploration by growing several generations of the plants in orbit.


    • A model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress) will be used to study seed production and viability in microgravity.

    Description

    Multigen tested a novel method of immobilization of biological samples (e.g. plant seeds). A similar immobilization system was tested on ground with positive results at the Plant BioCentre, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway. The Multigen experiment proposed to observe how this system will work in microgravity conditions.

    The experiment used a water soluble polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) membrane to fix plant seeds to a surface, taking care that the fixation method does not impact the science (e.g. growth pattern and biocompatibility) and that it is compatible with the experimental setup (auto-immunization and hardware in general). The experiment protocols include observation of the behavior of the membrane as it is dissolved, looking for any movement of the seeds. Multigen tested and compared PVA membranes of varying thicknesses, and also tested the set-up with different types of seeds, although the main work is done on Arabidopsis thaliana.

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    Applications

    Space Applications

    Information Pending

    Earth Applications

    Information Pending

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    Operations

    Operational Requirements

    Information Pending

    Operational Protocols

    The seeds are launched in a dry state inside the plant cultivation chamber at 22 degrees C. The plant cultivation chamber is placed inside the EMCS by the crew. The crew will activate Multigen, by pressing a button on the EMCS to water the seeds to begin germination. The growth process is closely followed using the EMCS provided time-lapsed video system. When the plant is fully grown and has developed seeds, the crew will press a button on the EMCS to start the dehydration process. The plant cultivation chambers are removed from EMCS and stowed for return to Earth. Once on Earth, a portion of the seeds from the dehydrated plants will be used in ground based morphological studies. The remaining seeds are harvested and returned to ISS in plant cultivation chambers for Mulitgen-2.

    Multigen-2 will duplicate the operations of Multigen-1 to create seeds for DNA analysis and Multigen-3. The process will be completed with the plants developed in Multigen-3. The dehydrated plants from Multigen-3 will be harvested and studied to link circumnutational behavior.

    The materials and systems of the experiment closely replicate the conditions of plant experiments onboard the International Space Station (ISS) in the Multigen. A semiautomatic system will be used to introduce water into small containers in order to dissolve the immobilization materials. We will do one experiment per parabola. We will vary the thickness of the PVA membrane and the type of seeds. Some repetitions of experiments are necessary to obtain reliable results. The result of each experiment will be recorded using a high definition camera in combination with a 40x microscope. The results will highlight any difference between the behavior of the PVA membranes in 1G and in a 0G environment.

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    Results/More Information

    Multigen samples were returned to Earth for analysis by the investigator team in April 2008. Final results of the investigation are pending data analysis of the returned samples. (Evans et al. 2009)

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    Results Publications

      Solheim BB, Johnsson A, Iversen T.  Ultradian Rhythms in Arabidopsis Thaliana Leaves in Microgravity. New Phytologist. 2009; 183: 1043-1052. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2009.02896.x.
      Solheim BB.  3D information from 2D images recorded in the European Modular Cultivation System on the ISS. Advances in Space Research. 2009 Dec 15; 44(12): 1382-1391. DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2009.07.008.

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    Ground Based Results Publications

      Kittang A, Kvaloy B, Winge P, Iversen T.  Ground testing of Arabidopsis preservation protocol for the microarray analysis to be used in the ISS EMCS Multigen-2 experiment. Advances in Space Research. 2010; 46: 1249-1256. DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2010.06.021.

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    ISS Patents

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    Related Publications

      Helleseng KO, Gronnevik A, Fossum KR, Kittang A, Iversen T.  Utliization of the European Modular Cultivation System - opportunities and support functions.. 56th International Astronautical Congress. Fukuoka, Japan; 2005
      Solheim BB, Kittang A, Iversen T, Johnsson A.  Preparatory experiments for long-term observation of Arabidopsis circumnutations in microgravity. Acta Astronautica. 2006; 59: 46-53. DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2006.02.044.
      Solheim BB, Kittang A, Iversen T, Johnsson A.  Preparatory experiments for long term observation of Arabidopsis circumnutations in microgravity. 56th International Astronautical Conference, Fukuoka, Japan; 2005 A1.6.06.
      Fossum KR, Kittang A, Iversen T, Brinckmann E, Schiller P.  Testing the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) for ISS plant and cell research. SAE Technical Paper. 2005; 2005-01-2841. DOI: 4271/2005-01-2841.
      Skagen EB, Iversen T.  Effect of simulated and real weightlessness on early regeneration stages of Brassica napus protoplasts. In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology - Plant. 2000; 36(5): 312-318.

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    Related Websites
  • Columbus Mission - European Experiment Programme
  • The Arabidopsis Information Resource
  • Norwegian University of Science and Technology

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    Imagery

    image Image of the experiment container used to house Arabidopsis thaliana seeds in EMCS. Image Courtesy of ESA.
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    image Image Arabidopsis thaliana plant in the wild. Image Courtesy of ESA.
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    image Housed in the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS), Multigen grows Arabidopsis thaliana to determine the affects of microgravity on plants. This image was taken a few days after germination of the seeds during Expedition 15. Multigen is a cooperative investigation with the European Space Agency, ESA. Image provided by ESA.
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    image Housed in the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS), Multigen grows Arabidopsis thaliana to determine the affects of microgravity on plants. This image was captured on GMT 299 and shows the flower stalk (stem) with 2-3 flower bulbs on top and a few stem leaves below. Image provided by ESA.
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    image Housed in the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS), Multigen grows Arabidopsis thaliana to determine the affects of microgravity on plants. This image was captured on GMT 300 and shows the flower stalk (stem) with 2-3 flower bulbs on top and a few stem leaves below. Image provided by ESA.
    + View Larger Image


    image Housed in the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS), Multigen grows Arabidopsis thaliana to determine the affects of microgravity on plants. This image was captured on GMT 301 and shows the flower stalk (stem) with 2-3 flower bulbs on top and a few stem leaves below. Image provided by ESA.
    + View Larger Image


    Information provided by the investigation team to the ISS Program Scientist's Office.
    If updates are needed to the summary please contact JSC-ISS-Program-Science-Group. For other general questions regarding space station research and technology, please feel free to call our help line at 281-244-6187 or e-mail at JSC-ISS-Research-Helpline.
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