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Arabidopsis Thaliana in Space: Perception of Gravity, Signal Transduction and Graviresponse in Higher Plants (AT-Space)
09.18.09

Overview | Description | Applications | Operations | Results | Publications | Images

Experiment/Payload Overview

Brief Summary

The objective of Arabidopsis Thaliana in Space: Perception of Gravity, Signal Transduction and Graviresponse in Higher Plants (AT-Space) is to identify plant gravity perception and signal transduction pathways on a molecular level. This comprehensive research should reveal the crucial factors controlling the gravity signal transduction cascade.

Principal Investigator

  • Alexander Dovzhenko, Ph.D., Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

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

  • Dorothee Aubry, M.Sc., Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
  • Franck Ditengou, Ph.D. Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
  • Klaus Palme, Ph.D., Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    • Payload Developer

    Kaiser Italia, Livorno, Italy

    Sponsoring Agency

    European Space Agency (ESA)

    Expeditions Assigned

    |16|

    Previous ISS Missions

    Information Pending

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    Experiment/Payload Description

    Research Summary

    • Arabidopsis Thaliana in Space: Perception of Gravity, Signal Transduction and Graviresponse in Higher Plants (AT-Space) will elucidate the mechanisms of plant root gravity perception and signal transduction and identify gravity related genes and localize gravity related proteins using a gene expression by microarray postflight.


    • This investigation will answer the following questions:

      • Does gravity drive the expression of particular classes of genes?

      • Does gravity influence the expression of the same genes in different organs, such as roots and shoots?

      • Are the same genes regulated by gravity on the ground and in space-grown plants?

    Description

    The aim of the proposal is to unequivocally identify genes that are activated, or in some way regulated, by gravity. This knowledge can have an impact on practical agronomic purposes, e.g. architecture of root and shoot systems as well as realizing this potential for regulating plant growth in space. Significant interest and support from industry is demonstrated, especially in the analytical genomic sector. The project will use state-of-the-art tools to evaluate the architecture of these pathways. Using DNA microchips and other molecular genetic technology we will gain new quantitative and qualitative information on gravity-regulated gene expression.

    The experiments will study the well-known flowering plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, also known as mouse-ear cress or thale cress, a plant which is genetically related to soybeans, cotton, vegetables and oil seed crops. A. thaliana has all of the normal plant functions, and has become a useful research model. Some of its advantages are its short life cycle, small size, prodigious seed production, and its small genome of about 110 Mb comprising 25.498 genes.

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    Applications

    Space Applications

    Information Pending

    Earth Applications

    Information Pending

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    Operations

    Operational Requirements

    Information Pending

    Operational Protocols

    During the experiments, seeds will be germinated in the experiment unit in the KUBIK incubators under controlled temperature in a centrifuge simulating 1G for reference purposes. After 4-days growth at 1G half of the samples are transferred to microgravity, while the remained stay on the 1 G centrifuge. Samples are fixed 1-hour, 6-hours and 24-hours after transfer with RNAlaterTM to permit subsequent gene analysis. Additional one sample is fixed with formaldehyde for microscopy analysis of the germinated seedlings.

    These genes can now be evaluated systematically using micro-array technology. Micro-arrays are miniaturized arrays of small gene fragments, representing almost the entire Arabidopsis genome and attached to solid supports (chips). These chips can, for instance, be used to examine gene activity or to identify gene mutations by hybridizing a fluorescent ADNc sample, representing the transcriptomes of interest, to the sequences on the microarray. After hybridization, the chips are read with high-speed fluorescent detectors. The location and intensity of each spot reveals the identity and amount of each sequence present in the sample. Since almost the entire A. thaliana genome can be analyzed on a single array, genome-wide patterns of gene expression under multiple experimental conditions can easily be obtained, and either qualitatively or quantitatively analyzed.

    This technology is used to examine gravity-regulated gene expression in A. thaliana with unprecedented speed and resolution.

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    Results/More Information

    Information Pending

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    Related Web Sites
  • The Arabidopsis Information Resource

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    Publications

    Results Publications

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      Related Publications

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        Images

        imageImage of Arabidopsis thaliana plant used in the AT-Space investigation, Image courtesy of ESA.
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        Information Provided and Updated by the ISS Program Scientist's Office
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