ASGSB 1998 Annual Meeting Abstracts

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ALTERATIONS IN THE ROOT TIP CELLS OF SOYBEAN SEEDLINGS GROWN UNDER MICROGRAVITY.    D.O. Klymchuk¹ C. S. Brown², W.C. Piastuch³ and E.L. Kordyum¹, ¹Institute of Botany, Nat. Acad. Sci. of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine, ²NC State University and Dynamac Corp., Raleigh, USA and ³Dynamac Corp., KSC, FL, USA.

Soybean seedlings in the presence of Purafil (to remove ethylene) and in the absence of Purafil were grown in microgravity during the STS-87 flight of the Space Shuttle. Dry seeds were launched and then activated by hydrating. Root tips were taken postflight and examined using transmission electron and light microscopy. Columella cells, as well as secretory and meristematic cells, of root tips, developed in space were larger and were more vacuolated compared with the ground controls. More essential differences were observed in samples without Purafil treatment. It is suggested that microgravity-induced changes in root tip cells are accompanied by alterations of metabolic pathways that regulate the cell growth by expansion. Among of other effects, space flight samples have exhibited the changes in statocyte ultrastructure, and the localization of amyloplasts and nucleus in the statocytes. The data indicates that the microgravity environment impacts root formation and supports the idea that ethylene is involved. (Financial support was provided by Ukrainian Space Agency).

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