Journal article
Induced compression wood formation in Douglas fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii) in microgravity
Phytochemistry (Oxford), Vol.57(6), pp.847-857
2001
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/116519
PMID: 11423136
Abstract
In the microgravity environment of the Space Shuttle Columbia (Life and Microgravity Mission STS-78), were grown 1-year-old Douglas fir and loblolly pine plants in a NASA plant growth facility. Several plants were harnessed (at 45°) to establish if compression wood biosynthesis, involving altered cellulose and lignin deposition and cell wall structure would occur under those conditions of induced mechanical stress. Selected plants were harnessed at day 2 in orbit, with stem sections of specific plants harvested and fixed for subsequent microscopic analyses on days 8, 10 and 15. At the end of the total space mission period (17 days), the remaining healthy harnessed plants and their vertical (upright) controls were harvested and fixed on earth. All harnessed (at 45°) plant specimens, whether grown at 1
g or in microgravity, formed compression wood. Moreover, not only the cambial cells but also the developing tracheid cells underwent significant morphological changes. This indicated that the developing tracheids from the primary cell wall expansion stage to the fully lignified maturation stage are involved in the perception and transduction of the stimuli stipulating the need for alteration of cell wall architecture. It is thus apparent that, even in a microgravity environment, woody plants can make appropriate corrections to compensate for stress gradients introduced by mechanical bending, thereby enabling compression wood to be formed. The evolutionary implications of these findings are discussed in terms of “variability” in cell wall biosynthesis.
Morphological changes resulting in compression wood formation were induced in a microgravity environment through mechanical stress.
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Details
- Title
- Induced compression wood formation in Douglas fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii) in microgravity
- Creators
- Mi Kwon - Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164-6340, USADiana L Bedgar - Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164-6340, USAWilliam Piastuch - Dynamac Corporation, Mail Code: DYN-3, Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899, USALaurence B Davin - Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164-6340, USANorman G Lewis - Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164-6340, USA
- Publication Details
- Phytochemistry (Oxford), Vol.57(6), pp.847-857
- Academic Unit
- Biological Chemistry, Institute of
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- Identifiers
- 99900548178801842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article