Polar auxin transport is essential to maintain growth and development of etiolated pea and maize seedlings grown under 1 g conditions: Relevance to the International Space Station experiment

Publication date: Available online 15 November 2018Source: Life Sciences in Space ResearchAuthor(s): Kensuke Miyamoto, Akinori Inui, Eiji Uheda, Mariko Oka, Motoshi Kamada, Chiaki Yamazaki, Toru Shimazu, Haruo Kasahara, Hiromi Sano, Tomomi Suzuki, Akira Higashibata, Junichi UedaAbstractWe conducted “Auxin Transport” space experiments in 2016 and 2017 in the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) on the International Space Station (ISS), with the principal objective being integrated analyses of the growth and development of etiolated pea (Pisum sativum L. cv Alaska) and maize (Zea mays L. cv Golden Cross Bantam) seedlings under true microgravity conditions in space relative to auxin dynamics. Etiolated pea seedlings grown under microgravity conditions in space for 3 days showed automorphogenesis. Epicotyls and roots bent ca. 45 degrees and 20 degrees toward the direction away from the cotyledons, respectively, whereas those grown under artificial 1 g conditions produced by a centrifuge in the Cell Biology Experimental Facility (CBEF) in space showed negative and positive gravitropic response in epicotyls and in roots, respectively. On the other hand, the coleoptiles of 4-day-old etiolated maize seedlings grew almost straight, but the mesocotyls curved and grew toward a random direction under microgravity conditions in space. In contrast, the coleoptiles and mesocotyls of etiolated maize seedlings grown under 1 g conditions on Earth were almost straight and grew upward or toward ...
Source: Life Sciences in Space Research - Category: Biology Source Type: research