Gravity Induced Absorption Changes in Phycomyces blakesleanus and Coleoptiles of Zea mays as Measured on the Drop Tower in Bremen (FRG)

Schmidt, Werner

doi:10.1007/s12217-009-9113-0

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 16 publications

(23 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These events are specific for early events of the transduction chain because they are altered in a gravitropism mutant of genotype madJ Schmidt 2006). The fact that GIACs occur not only in Phycomyces sporangiophores but also in seedlings of Arabidopsis and coleoptiles of Zea mays supports the notion that they are also common in plants and that they represent suitable tools to spectroscopically dissect their primary responses of gravireception (Schmidt 2010(Schmidt , 2011(Schmidt , 2012.…”

Section: Cytoskeleton Ion Fluxes and Gravity-induced Absorbance Chanmentioning

confidence: 76%

The sporangiophore of Phycomyces blakesleeanus: a tool to investigate fungal gravireception and graviresponses

Galland

2013

Plant Biol J

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The giant sporangiophore of the single-celled fungus, Phycomyces blakesleeanus, utilises light, gravity and gases (water and ethylene) as environmental cues for spatial orientation. Even though gravitropism is ubiquitous in fungi (Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau, 1996, 49, 174), the underlying mechanisms of gravireception are far less understood than those operating in plants. The amenability of Phycomyces to classical genetics and the availability of its genome sequence makes it essential to fill this knowledge gap and serve as a paradigm for fungal gravireception. The physiological phenomena describing the gravitropism of plants, foremost adherence to the so-called sine law, hold even for Phycomyces. Additional phenomena pertaining to gravireception, specifically adherence to the novel exponential law and non-adherence to the classical resultant law of gravitropism, were for the first time investigated for Phycomyces. Sporangiophores possess a novel type of gravisusceptor, i.e. lipid globules that act by buoyancy rather than sedimentation and that are associated with a network of actin cables (Plant Biology, 2013). Gravitropic bending is associated with ion currents generated by directed Ca(2+) and H(+) transport in the growing zone (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2005, 1048, 487; Planta, 2012, 236, 1817). A set of behavioural mutants with specific defects in gravi- and/or photoreception allowed dissection of the respective transduction chains. The complex phenotypes of these mutants led to abandoning the concept of simple linear transduction chains in favour of interacting networks with molecular modules of physically interacting proteins.

show abstract

Section: Cytoskeleton Ion Fluxes and Gravity-induced Absorbance Chanmentioning

confidence: 76%

The sporangiophore of Phycomyces blakesleeanus: a tool to investigate fungal gravireception and graviresponses

Galland

2013

Plant Biol J

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In general, depending on the parameters studied, these have provided a reliable replica of the biological results obtained in space experiments under real microgravity, even though the gravity vector cannot possibly be avoided or removed on the Earth’s surface [ 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Only drop-towers provide a real microgravity on Earth, but the period of time for which the microgravity condition is generated in them is limited to just a few seconds [ 18 ], which is too short for plant research. Parabolic flights also provide a real microgravity for experimentation, but it is preceded by a period of hypergravity [ 19 ], which may alter the way an organism responds to microgravity.…”

Section: Altered Gravity/microgravity Disturbs Plant Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Red Light Enhances Plant Adaptation to Spaceflight and Mars g-Levels

Medina

Manzano

Herranz

et al. 2022

Life

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Understanding how plants respond and adapt to extraterrestrial conditions is essential for space exploration initiatives. Deleterious effects of the space environment on plant development have been reported, such as the unbalance of cell growth and proliferation in the root meristem, or gene expression reprogramming. However, plants are capable of surviving and completing the seed-to-seed life cycle under microgravity. A key research challenge is to identify environmental cues, such as light, which could compensate the negative effects of microgravity. Understanding the crosstalk between light and gravity sensing in space was the major objective of the NASA-ESA Seedling Growth series of spaceflight experiments (2013–2018). Different g-levels were used, with special attention to micro-g, Mars-g, and Earth-g. In spaceflight seedlings illuminated for 4 days with a white light photoperiod and then photostimulated with red light for 2 days, transcriptomic studies showed, first, that red light partially reverted the gene reprogramming induced by microgravity, and that the combination of microgravity and photoactivation was not recognized by seedlings as stressful. Two mutant lines of the nucleolar protein nucleolin exhibited differential requirements in response to red light photoactivation. This observation opens the way to directed-mutagenesis strategies in crop design to be used in space colonization. Further transcriptomic studies at different g-levels showed elevated plastid and mitochondrial genome expression in microgravity, associated with disturbed nucleus–organelle communication, and the upregulation of genes encoding auxin and cytokinin hormonal pathways. At the Mars g-level, genes of hormone pathways related to stress response were activated, together with some transcription factors specifically related to acclimation, suggesting that seedlings grown in partial-g are able to acclimate by modulating genome expression in routes related to space-environment-associated stress.

show abstract

“…For this purpose, we designed a novel, highly sensitive micro dual wavelength spectrophotometer [1,2] and we detected the first GIACs in laboratory bound experiments simply by tilting gravisensitive specimen (Phycomyces, coleoptiles of maize, oat and Arabidopsis [2]) into the horizontal position (a crude test for GIAC-activity). This was the starting point of our activities between 2000 and 2012 to come: eleven parabolic flight campaigns (PFCs, [1][2][3][4][5]), a drop tower campaign [6] and two sounding rocket campaigns (Nov. 2009 and a second one in March 2013, to be published).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dependence of Gravity Induced Absorption Changes on the Earth’s Magnetic Field as Measured during Parabolic Flight Campaigns

Schmidt¹

2013

JMP

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Various spectroscopic experiments performed on the AIRBUS ZERO G-located in Bordeaux, France-in the years 2002 to 2012 exhibit minute optical reflection/absorption changes (GIACs) as a result of gravitational changes between 0 and 1.8 g in various biological species such as maize, oats, Arabidopsis and particularly Phycomyces sporangiophores. During a flight day, the AIRBUS ZERO G conducts 31 parabolas, each of which lasts about three minutes including a period of 22 s of weightlessness. So far, we participated in 11 parabolic flight campaigns including more than 1000 parabolas performing various kinds of experiments. During our campaigns, we observed an unexplainable variability of the measuring signals (GIACs). Using GPS-positioning systems and three dimensional magnetic field sensors, these finally were traced back to the changing earth's magnetic field associated with the various flight directions. This is the first time that the interaction of gravity and the Earth' magnetic field in the primary induction process in living system has been observed.

show abstract

Gravity Induced Absorption Changes in Phycomyces blakesleanus and Coleoptiles of Zea mays as Measured on the Drop Tower in Bremen (FRG)

Cited by 7 publications

References 16 publications

The sporangiophore of Phycomyces blakesleeanus: a tool to investigate fungal gravireception and graviresponses

The sporangiophore of Phycomyces blakesleeanus: a tool to investigate fungal gravireception and graviresponses

Red Light Enhances Plant Adaptation to Spaceflight and Mars g-Levels

Dependence of Gravity Induced Absorption Changes on the Earth’s Magnetic Field as Measured during Parabolic Flight Campaigns

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About