Cover News Reporter Chen Yanfei
Photo provided by the Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences
On December 4, the return capsule of the Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft successfully landed at the Dongfeng landing site . On December 5, a reporter from the Cover News learned from the Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that on that day, rice and Arabidopsis thaliana seeds that had experienced 120 days of full life cycle, were delivered to the space application system along with other manned space science experimental samples.
Picture of native rice and regenerated rice in space rice, showing the phenotype of open space rice ears and shells
In the China Space Station Life Science Project, Zheng Huiqiong's research team of the Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences undertakes the "Molecular Mechanism of Blossom Control of Advanced Plants under the conditions of Microgravity " project, and has carried out the first internationally whole life cycle cultivation experiment from seed to seed. At the same time, flowering is the prerequisite for seed formation. The research team used the model plant Arabidopsis to systematically study the impact of spatial microgravity on plant flowering.
Process image of space regeneration rice, the time in the figure is the number of days after shearing
Rice is the main food crop for humans and the main candidate food crop for future manned deep space exploration life support systems. Using spatial microgravity to breed rice is also one of the important directions in spatial botany research. Seeds are not only food for humans, but also the carrier for reproduction of the next generation of plants. If humans want to survive in space for a long time, they must ensure that plants can complete generational alternation in space and successfully reproduce seeds. However, in the space, only the cultivation of Arabidopsis, rapeseed, peas and wheat from seeds has been completed internationally, while the main grain crop rice has not been able to complete the cultivation of the entire life cycle of rice in space.
Rice is completed in the general biological culture module of the Wentianban Life Ecological Experiment Cabinet. Representative pictures of different development stages from seed to seed throughout the life cycle. The numbers on the image represent the number of days after the injected nutrient solution is started
It is understood that from the injected nutrient solution is started on July 29, 2022 to the end of the experiment on November 25, the project has carried out experiments on orbit for 120 days, and completed the culture experiments for the entire life cycle of Arabidopsis and rice seed germination, seedling growth, and flowering and seeds. During this period, the astronaut was collected in orbit three times, including the collection of rice samples during the ear-pregnancy period on September 21; the collection of sample samples during the flowering period of Arabidopsis on October 12 and the collection of sample samples during the maturity period of rice and Arabidopsis on November 25. After collection, the samples in the flowering or eardrum stage were stored in a low-temperature storage cabinet of -80℃, and the samples in the seed maturity stage were stored in a low-temperature storage cabinet of 4℃. On December 4, the sample returned to the ground with Shenzhou 14 . After the samples are handed over in Beijing as planned, they will be transferred to a laboratory in Shanghai for further testing and analysis.
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