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sub evolutionis
sub evolutionis
ALCYDON SFX-01 (SPACE FARM 1)
Hawaiian Space Port
Initiation of research into the relevance and sense of developing a space elevator and associated supply farm.
<NASA radishes
Microgravity conditions can significantly alter the chemical activity and metabolic processes in plants, potentially leading to increased or altered production of certain compounds. These changes can affect various aspects of plant physiology, including growth, development, and the synthesis of bioactive compounds.
Understanding how microgravity affects plant metabolism is crucial for developing sustainable food production systems in space.
Potential Medical Benefits:
Enhanced Secondary Metabolites:
Microgravity can influence the production of secondary metabolites in plants, which are compounds not directly involved in primary growth but often have medicinal properties. Research is exploring how to leverage these changes to create plants with higher concentrations of specific beneficial compounds.
Novel Compounds:
The unique environment of space may also lead to the creation of entirely new compounds not found in plants grown on Earth.
Antioxidant Properties:
Some studies suggest that plants grown in microgravity may have increased antioxidant levels, potentially offering health benefits related to reducing oxidative stress.
A functionally diverse group of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) occur in response to microgravity/MMA including those associated with reactive oxygen species (ROS), antioxidant enzymes, auxin transport, cytoskeletal modification, cell-wall development, Ca2+ messenger molecules, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade signaling, cytokinin signaling, RuBisCO gene expression, carbohydrate metabolism, DNA repair, and differential expression of pathogen-defense genes.
Spaceflight cultivation of plants is essential for maintaining human health during long-term space travel. Human pathogens suppress and evade plant PTI and ETI to colonize and proliferate in planta, allowing them to persist as foodborne pathogens. Under microgravity, biophysical and molecular mechanisms such as low-fluid shear and the differential expression of the post-transcriptional global regulator Hfq cause human pathogens to display increased growth rate, resistance to stress and anti-biotics, and increased virulence in animals. While plants have been shown to be more susceptible to fungal and oomycete phytopathogens under microgravity, their susceptibility to colonization by bacterial pathogens including human bacterial pathogens under microgravity remains unknown. Given the role of Hfq as a regulator of virulence genes in both animal pathogens and phytopathogens, the regulon’s differential expression in human pathogens in spaceflight might also confer increased virulency in plant hosts as demonstrated in animal hosts. Taken together, there exists an alarming knowledge gap regarding plant interactions with human foodborne pathogens in microgravity, as well as interactions with bacteria in general. This is pertinent as foodborne bacterial pathogens have already been unintentionally introduced to space vehicles and space-grown lettuce has displayed colonization by a diverse microbiome. Additional studies using both MMA platforms and spaceflight to study crop plants inoculated with common foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella enterica and E. coli are necessary to ensure human safety during space travel. A One Health approach to this challenge, connecting the human crew, the spaceflight microbiome, and plants, is needed to ensure our safety as we continue to spend longer periods in spaceflight habitats.
Altered Growth Direction:
Plants rely on gravity for gravitropism, the process where roots grow downwards and shoots grow upwards. In microgravity, this directional growth is disrupted, leading to roots growing in unusual directions, sometimes even towards the stems. Changes in Cell Structure:
Microgravity can affect cell structure and the distribution of cellular components like amyloplasts, which play a role in gravity sensing. Gene Expression:
Plant gene expression is altered in microgravity, with some genes related to stress response being upregulated. Potential for Increased Growth:
Some experiments have shown that plants, like wheat in the PESTO experiment, can grow taller or faster in microgravity compared to Earth. Challenges:
Factors like limited resources (water, nutrients), radiation exposure, and the need for specialized equipment can make growing plants in microgravity challenging.
Spaceflight cultivation of plants is essential for maintaining human health during long-term space travel. Human pathogens suppress and evade plant PTI and ETI to colonize and proliferate in planta, allowing them to persist as foodborne pathogens. Under microgravity, biophysical and molecular mechanisms such as low-fluid shear and the differential expression of the post-transcriptional global regulator Hfq cause human pathogens to display increased growth rate, resistance to stress and anti-biotics, and increased virulence in animals. While plants have been shown to be more susceptible to fungal and oomycete phytopathogens under microgravity, their susceptibility to colonization by bacterial pathogens including human bacterial pathogens under microgravity remains unknown. Given the role of Hfq as a regulator of virulence genes in both animal pathogens and phytopathogens, the regulon’s differential expression in human pathogens in spaceflight might also confer increased virulency in plant hosts as demonstrated in animal hosts. Taken together, there exists an alarming knowledge gap regarding plant interactions with human foodborne pathogens in microgravity, as well as interactions with bacteria in general. This is pertinent as foodborne bacterial pathogens have already been unintentionally introduced to space vehicles and space-grown lettuce has displayed colonization by a diverse microbiome. Additional studies using both MMA platforms and spaceflight to study crop plants inoculated with common foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella enterica and E. coli are necessary to ensure human safety during space travel. A One Health approach to this challenge, connecting the human crew, the spaceflight microbiome, and plants, is needed to ensure our safety as we continue to spend longer periods in spaceflight habitats.
Altered Growth Direction:
Plants rely on gravity for gravitropism, the process where roots grow downwards and shoots grow upwards. In microgravity, this directional growth is disrupted, leading to roots growing in unusual directions, sometimes even towards the stems. Changes in Cell Structure:
Microgravity can affect cell structure and the distribution of cellular components like amyloplasts, which play a role in gravity sensing. Gene Expression:
Plant gene expression is altered in microgravity, with some genes related to stress response being upregulated. Potential for Increased Growth:
Some experiments have shown that plants, like wheat in the PESTO experiment, can grow taller or faster in microgravity compared to Earth. Challenges:
Factors like limited resources (water, nutrients), radiation exposure, and the need for specialized equipment can make growing plants in microgravity challenging.
Further research is needed to explore the potential of using microgravity as a tool for enhancing the production of valuable plant-derived compounds. Future studies exposing plants to pathogens in microgravity conditions could differentiate DEG responses unique to microgravity as compared to pathogen infection and elucidate the relationships between gravity and plant immunity.
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