Alterations in redox homeostasis and profound developmental consequences are at the core of sudden gravity change responses of sugarcane plants

Understanding how abiotic stress influences plant development is crucial to humankind, and several studies in the last decades have targeted it. Nevertheless, new experimental models are necessary to expand the current understanding of biochemical pathways that lead to plant stress acclimation. Though it is not present in field conditions, the study of crop responses to sudden gravity changes can reveal additional details of the imbricated nature of plants stress-signaling pathways. Therefore, we analyzed morphological, biochemical, and transcript expression alterations in sugarcane plantlets, an important crop and one of the significant sources of ethanol and sugar production, submitted to sudden gravity changes during a flight in the Brazilian sounding rocket VSB-30. Our results indicate that sugarcane's response is similar to other abiotic stress responses, such as higher lignin accumulation in plant cell walls, altered cell redox state, and root and leaf integrated network responses. These alterations also culminate in the intense disorganization of vascular bundles. The expression pattern from roots and leaves showed integrated and distinct responses for some known pathways, and both tissues expressed stress-related transcripts. Our findings evidence that even short-term gravitational changes induce profound developmental changes associated with stress perception and response.