Molecular Cytogenetics of Pisum sativum L. Grown under Spaceflight-Related Stress

Abstract

The ontogenesis and reproduction of plants cultivated aboard a spacecraft occur inside the unique closed ecological system wherein plants are subjected to serious abiotic stresses. For the first time, a comparative molecular cytogenetic analysis of Pisum sativum L. (Fabaceae) grown on board the RS ISS during the Expedition-14 and Expedition-16 and also plants of their succeeding (F1 and F2) generations cultivated on Earth was performed in order to reveal possible structural chromosome changes in the pea genome. The karyotypes of these plants were studied by multicolour fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with five different repeated DNA sequences (45S rDNA, 5S rDNA, PisTR-B/1, microsatellite motifs (AG)12, and (GAA)9) as probes. A chromosome aberration was revealed in one F1 plant. Significant changes in distribution of the examined repeated DNAs in karyotypes of the “space grown” pea plants as well as in F1 and F2 plants cultivated on Earth were not observed if compared with control plants. Additional oligo-(GAA)9 sites were detected on chromosomes 6 and 7 in karyotypes of F1 and F2 plants. The detected changes might be related to intraspecific genomic polymorphism or plant cell adaptive responses to spaceflight-related stress factors. Our findings suggest that, despite gradual total trace contamination of the atmosphere on board the ISS associated with the extension of the space station operating life, exposure to the space environment did not induce serious chromosome reorganizations in genomes of the “space grown” pea plants and generations of these plants cultivated on Earth.

Metabolomics Analysis in Different Development Stages on SP0 Generation of Rice Seeds After Spaceflight

“…Our previous research found that short-term close-to-earth flight would cause changes in plant redox homeostasis, stress response proteins, energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism, hormone metabolism, transcription modification, and other related protein expression changes ( Ma et al, 2007 ; Wang et al, 2008 ; Deyong et al, 2020 ; Zeng et al, 2020 ), and similar results have been found in ISS ( Sugimoto et al, 2014 ; Ferl et al, 2015 ; Kruse et al, 2020 ). In the process of spaceflight, plants would be subjected to extremely severe abiotic stress ( Yurkevich et al, 2018 ), which would lead to reprogramming of the plant’s genome, thereby affecting plant growth, development and yield ( Musgrave and Kuang, 2003 ; De Micco et al, 2014 ). Previous studies have indicated that the cell wall composition of Arabidopsis thaliana changed in the spaceflight ( Hoson et al, 2014 ).…”

Investigating the Origin and Evolution of Polyploid Trifolium medium L. Karyotype by Comparative Cytogenomic Methods

“…Comparative cytogenetic studies among species of certain taxa using markers such as ribosomal rDNA loci, tandem repeats, and/or bacterial artificial chromosomes are common in plant research and have been proven to provide valuable insights into karyotype evolution while allowing capture of chromosomal rearrangements [ 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 ]. In legumes, comparative cytogenetic and cytogenomic karyotype analyses have been published for several taxa, including Phaseolus [ 49 ], Medicago and allied genera [ 56 ], Senna [ 57 , 58 ], Arachis [ 59 ], Canavalia [ 60 ], Lupinus [ 61 ], and Pisum [ 62 ]. For this reason, we expanded our cytogenomic analyses to hexaploid T. medium var.…”

Molecular Cytogenetics of Eurasian Species of the Genus Hedysarum L. (Fabaceae)

“…These DNA probes were labelled directly with fluorochromes SpectrumAqua or SpectrumRed by nick translation according to manufacturers’ protocols (Abbott Molecular, Wiesbaden, Germany). The FISH procedure was carried out as described previously [ 56 ]. After hybridization, the slides were washed respectively in 0.1 × SSC at 50 °C for 5 min, 2 × SSC at 37 °C for 10 min, 2 × SSC at RT for 5 min and 1 × PBS at RT for 3 min.…”