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ARADISH - Development of a Standardized Plant Growth Chamber for Experiments in Gravitational Biology Using Ground Based Facilities

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Abstract

Plant development strongly relies on environmental conditions. Growth of plants in Biological Life Support Systems (BLSS), which are a necessity to allow human survival during long-term space exploration missions, poses a particular problem for plant growth, as in addition to the traditional environmental factors, microgravity (or reduced gravity such as on Moon or Mars) and limited gas exchange hamper plant growth. Studying the effects of reduced gravity on plants requires real or simulated microgravity experiments under highly standardized conditions, in order to avoid the influence of other environmental factors. Analysis of a large number of biological replicates, which is necessary for the detection of subtle phenotypical differences, can so far only be achieved in Ground Based Facilities (GBF). Besides different experimental conditions, the usage of a variety of different plant growth chambers was a major factor that led to a lack of reproducibility and comparability in previous studies. We have developed a flexible and customizable plant growth chamber, called ARAbidopsis DISH (ARADISH), which allows plant growth from seed to seedling, being realized in a hydroponic system or on Agar. By developing a special holder, the ARADISH can be used for experiments with Arabidopsis thaliana or a plant with a similar habitus on common GBF hardware, including 2D clinostats and Random Positioning Machines (RPM). The ARADISH growth chamber has a controlled illumination system of red and blue light emitting diodes (LED), which allows the user to apply defined light conditions. As a proof of concept we tested a prototype in a proteomic experiment in which plants were exposed to simulated microgravity or a 90° stimulus. We optimized the design and performed viability tests after several days of growth in the hardware that underline the utility of ARADISH in microgravity research.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge that this study forms a part of a Ph.D. thesis of Oliver Schüler (Helmholtz Space Life Sciences Research School at the German Aerospace Center, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Cologne, Germany) and the Master thesis of Lars Krause (University of Bonn, Germany). The authors are grateful to Prof. Ralf Anken for critical reading of the manuscript. Funding was provided by DLR, Helmholtz Society (SpaceLife Scholarship) and ESA (4000109583- ESA- CORA- GBF- 2013- 005-Böhmer).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Gravitational Biology, Linder Höhe, Cologne, Germany

      Oliver Schüler, Lars Krause, Mark Görög, Jens Hauslage, Leona Kesseler & Ruth Hemmersbach

    2. Institute for Biology and Biotechnology of Plants, Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster, Schlossplatz 7, Münster, Germany

      Oliver Schüler & Maik Böhmer

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    1. Oliver Schüler
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    2. Lars Krause
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    3. Mark Görög
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    7. Ruth Hemmersbach
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    Correspondence to Oliver Schüler.

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    Oliver Schüler and Lars Krause are contributed equally to the publication

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    Schüler, O., Krause, L., Görög, M. et al. ARADISH - Development of a Standardized Plant Growth Chamber for Experiments in Gravitational Biology Using Ground Based Facilities. Microgravity Sci. Technol. 28, 297–305 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-015-9454-9

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