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GENE EXPRESSION PROFILING OF ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA GROWN ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION. Link B, Zhou W, Stankovic B.  University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics

   Many early space experiments with plants were conducted in sealed containers to prevent the experiment’s contents from leaking into the crew cabin damaging the crews, or the orbiters’ sensitive electronic systems.  These studies suffered from poor, or no gas exchange, uncontrolled moisture, humidity and temperature levels.  The International Space Station (ISS) is opening a door for real science to be done.  Instead of  short shuttle missions, plants can be grown from seed to seed in space.

   The Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR) designs, builds, and flies plant growth chambers on the ISS. In partnership with Space Explorers Inc., we produced a crop of Arabidopsis thaliana on the ISS.  The plants were grown in the Advanced Astroculture (ADVASC) hardware, which controls temperature, humidity, minimum CO₂ level, light levels, and has an adjustable soil moisture level. 

   In the second flight of ADVASC on the ISS A. thaliana plants were collected at two different times by the astronauts and placed in RNAlater (Ambion Inc.).  RNA was successfully isolated and used as probes for the Affymetrix A. thaliana gene chips.  We will show the ten genes having the highest statistical change in expression level as well as changes for known gravitational mutants.  In addition we will show that microgravity alters floral stem branch angles.

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