space RNA-sequencing

To understand the effect of microgravity on Arabidopsis flowering, we conduct the experiment on Chinese Space Station. Transcriptomic changes of space-grown plants, including wild-type (WT), gigantea (gi) mutant, CONSTANS overexpressing plants (35S:CO), and transgenic plants expressing FT with the green fluorescent protein gene controlled by a heat shock-inducible promoter (pHSP:GFP;pHSP:FT, FG), were compared with their ground-based controls. Analysis revealed a conserved transcriptional response signature primarily across the genotypes investigated. We pinpointed a new set of microgravity-responsive genes with a significant enrichment in flowering controlling pathways. In addition, this study highlighted bZIP, bHLH, BES1, and SBP family transcription factors, which are known integrators of hormone, light, and photoperiodic signals, as key mediators of the microgravity response in space.

为探究微重力对拟南芥（Arabidopsis）开花的影响，本研究在中国空间站开展相关实验。本研究针对太空培养的各类植株（包括野生型（WT）、gigantea（gi）突变体、CONSTANS过表达植株（35S:CO），以及由热激诱导启动子调控绿色荧光蛋白与FT共表达的转基因植株（pHSP:GFP;pHSP:FT，FG））的转录组变化，与对应的地面对照样本展开了比对分析。分析结果表明，在所检测的所有基因型植株中，均存在保守的转录响应特征。本研究鉴定出一组全新的微重力响应基因，该类基因在开花调控通路中呈现显著富集。此外，本研究明确了bZIP、bHLH、BES1及SBP家族转录因子作为激素、光照与光周期信号的已知整合因子，是太空微重力响应的关键介导因子。