An illuminated growth system for the study of Arabidopsis thaliana during diamagnetic levitation by a superconducting magnet

The effect of gravity on plant growth is an interesting topic in its own right, but it is also important because it impacts the possibility of long-term space travel. Plants may be grown in microgravity simulated by diamagnetic levitation within superconducting magnet, but this approach is limited by the size and other objective conditions of the superconducting magnet. Tremendous difficulties exist in evaluating the effects of simulated microgravity on plant seedling growth under lighting conditions. Therefore, we developed a lighting system and culturing system that can meet the demands of growing plant seedlings in a superconducting magnet. This system mainly consists of an illumination system, suitable containers and a method to cultivate Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings. In order to prove the suitability of this light-growing system, A. thaliana was cultured in a superconducting magnet for four days. The status of seedlings was recorded and total RNA was extracted for gene expression analysis. Our results showed that Arabidopsis seedlings could germinate and grow successfully in this light-growing system. In addition, it was observed that under diamagnetic levitation conditions, the seedling bended and gene expression of PGM and MOR1 decreased significantly compared to a control group. Nonetheless, there were no substantial differences between the diamagnetic levitation group and RPM group. Our results suggest that this light-growing system is expedient and beneficial for plants grown in a superconducting magnet. Our experiment also provides a way to utilize diamagnetic levitation in a superconducting magnet that simulates the conditions necessary to study plant physiology and biochemical responses in a microgravity environment. (C) 2014 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.