ASGSB 1998 Annual Meeting Abstracts

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RICE-PATHOGEN INTERACTIONS: A MODEL SYSTEM FOR SPACE-FLIGHT EXPERIMENTS.   A. Chambers¹, M.J. Ryba-White¹, E. Hilaire¹, J.A. Guikema², J.E. Leach¹. ¹Department of Plant Pathology, and ²Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan 66506-5502

Rice is not only an excellent food source for sustaining life in space, but it also offers many advantages as a model system for studying the effects of microgravity on plant growth, development, and most importantly, on plant/pathogen interactions. The rice genome is small relative to other cereal species and it is the simplest of cereal plants to transform, allowing for molecular genetic manipulation. Rice can be adapted to contained systems used for flight experiments, for example, the BRIC (Biological Research in Canisters) or PGC (Plant Growth Chambers). Finally, the physiology and molecular biology of interactions between rice and a bacterial pathogen, Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae in unit gravity have been well-characterized. We have modified an experimental system for use in the analysis of the effects of microgravity on rice/bacterial interactions in BRICs. Autoclavable plastic growth pouches containing germination paper provide support for the developing rice seedlings and protection from contamination. The pouch design allows for visual or photographic monitoring of the growth and development of the rice roots. Seedlings can be easily removed from the pouches for subsequent treatments, such as chemical fixation for microscopy. Channels are sealed into the pouches and surface-sterilized seeds are positioned so that root growth is directed towards the pouch bottom, even under clinostat conditions. The rate of growth of rice roots in the pouches has been determined. Results of pathogen inoculation experiments will be presented.

(Supported by NASA: NAGW-2328 and the NASA Space Grant Consortium.)

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