Horticultural Science Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32610, USA.
Am J Bot. 2013 Jan;100(1):226-34. doi: 10.3732/ajb.1200338. Epub 2013 Jan 1.
The relationship between fundamental plant biology and space biology was especially synergistic in the era of the Space Shuttle. While all terrestrial organisms are influenced by gravity, the impact of gravity as a tropic stimulus in plants has been a topic of formal study for more than a century. And while plants were parts of early space biology payloads, it was not until the advent of the Space Shuttle that the science of plant space biology enjoyed expansion that truly enabled controlled, fundamental experiments that removed gravity from the equation. The Space Shuttle presented a science platform that provided regular science flights with dedicated plant growth hardware and crew trained in inflight plant manipulations. Part of the impetus for plant biology experiments in space was the realization that plants could be important parts of bioregenerative life support on long missions, recycling water, air, and nutrients for the human crew. However, a large part of the impetus was that the Space Shuttle enabled fundamental plant science essentially in a microgravity environment. Experiments during the Space Shuttle era produced key science insights on biological adaptation to spaceflight and especially plant growth and tropisms. In this review, we present an overview of plant science in the Space Shuttle era with an emphasis on experiments dealing with fundamental plant growth in microgravity. This review discusses general conclusions from the study of plant spaceflight biology enabled by the Space Shuttle by providing historical context and reviews of select experiments that exemplify plant space biology science.
基础植物生物学与空间生物学之间的关系在航天飞机时代尤其具有协同作用。虽然所有陆地生物都受到重力的影响，但重力作为植物的向性刺激的影响已经成为一个正式研究课题一个多世纪。虽然植物是早期空间生物学有效载荷的一部分，但直到航天飞机的出现，植物空间生物学的科学才得以扩展，真正实现了能够去除重力影响的受控基础实验。航天飞机提供了一个科学平台，为定期的科学飞行提供了专用的植物生长硬件，并为机组人员提供了飞行中植物操作方面的培训。在太空中进行植物生物学实验的部分动力是意识到植物可以成为长期任务中生物再生生命支持的重要组成部分，为人类机组人员循环水、空气和营养物质。然而，动力的很大一部分是航天飞机使基础植物科学在微重力环境中基本成为可能。航天飞机时代的实验产生了关于生物适应太空飞行的关键科学见解，尤其是植物生长和向性。在这篇综述中，我们介绍了航天飞机时代的植物科学概述，重点介绍了涉及微重力下基础植物生长的实验。本综述通过提供历史背景和精选实验的回顾，讨论了航天飞机促进的植物空间生物学研究的一般结论，这些实验体现了植物空间生物学科学。
