BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN CANISTERS-16 (BRIC-16), THREE INVESTIGATIONS
Research Area: Plant Biology
Increment(s): 23 and 24
Principal Investigator(s): ● John Z. Kiss, PhD, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio
● Anna-Lisa Paul, PhD, University of Florida, Gainesville,
Florida
● Elison Blancaflor, PhD, Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation
Incorporated, Ardmore, Oklahoma
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
BRIC-16-CYTOSKELETON (KISS)
Biological Research in Canisters - 16:
Investigations of the plant
cytoskeleton in microgravity with gene
profiling and cytochemistry (BRIC-16-
Cytoskeleton) studies the effects of
microgravity on the structure and
organization of the actin cytoskeleton
in plants using the model plant
Arabidopsis. The specific aims of this
research are: to investigate plastid
position in statocytes (the gravity-
perceiving cells) in microgravity; to
determine the effect of microgravity
on the actin cytoskeletal organization
in gravity-perceiving cells and to study the microgravity effects on actin cytoskeleton-related
gene expression in plant cells.
BRIC-16-DNA (PAUL)
Biological Research in Canisters - 16: The impact of spaceflight on Arabidopsis: Deep sequencing
and DNA Arrays as Collaborative Readouts of the Transcriptome of Arabidopsis Seedlings and
Undifferentiated Cells in Space (BRIC-16-DNA) compares and contrasts the gene expression
responses within 2 forms of Arabidopsis: whole, etiolated seedlings and undifferentiated cells in
culture. The comparison of intact plants with cultures of undifferentiated cells shows that cells
can detect spaceflight and gravity in the absence of tissue or organized developmental
structures.
BRIC-16-REGULATION (BLANCAFLOR)
Biological Research in Canisters - 16: Actin Regulation of Arabidopsis Root Growth and
Orientation During Spaceflight (BRIC-16-Regulation) studies how actin cytoskeleton dictates
root growth orientation during spaceflight and conducts an extensive set of genome-wide
microarray studies to unravel actin-dependent gene regulatory networks that modulate root
growth and orientation during spaceflight.
S135E012252 - Mission specialist Rex Walheim poses for a
photo while working with a Biological Research in Canisters
experiment.