Michael Braukus

Headquarters, Washington, DC April 1, 1997

(Phone: 202/358-1979)

David Morse
Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA
(Phone: 415/604-4724)

RELEASE: 97-62

SHUTTLE EXPERIMENT TO STUDY MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF

PLANTS

Studies of plants on the next Space Shuttle

mission may someday lead to the production of life-
saving medicines and other important compounds.

The experiments conducted by Dr. Gerard Heyenga

at NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA,
will be part of the 16-day STS-83 mission, scheduled
for launch this week.

"A fundamental objective of this research is to

evaluate whether microgravity may be used to alter
specific metabolic pathways in plants, and
ultimately apply this technology for Earth-based
benefits," Heyenga said.

Heyenga hypothesizes that extended exposure of

plants to microgravity may reduce their expenditure
of energy on structural components, thereby
increasing flow through other metabolic pathways,
many of which produce materials of important
medicinal value. Of even greater significance is
the possibility that corresponding changes may occur
at a genetic level, he said.

A comparison between space- and Earth-grown

plants would give a unique opportunity to obtain a
greater understanding of how these pathways are
controlled at the gene level, Heyenga said. In
turn, "such knowledge would allow us to manipulate
or genetically engineer plants with desired
metabolic traits," he added. "For example, this
information could be applied to the lumber industry
in the production of trees with a low lignin
content, greatly reducing the cost of paper
production both economically and environmentally."
Conversely, it might be applied to improving timber
quality in fast-growing softwoods, reducing the need
to harvest slow-growing hardwoods, he said. "If
this hypothesis is correct and achievable, it
obviously represents the basis for a multi-billion
dollar industry and certainly highlights the value
of space-related research and such facilities as the
Space Station."

A critical requirement in the investigation is

the ability to maintain well-characterized and high-
quality plant-growth conditions during space flight
and corresponding Earth experiments. "To achieve a
meaningful understanding of the effects of
microgravity on plants, it is essential that we
minimize or avoid additional factors that may cause
any stress and that complicate the evaluation,"
Heyenga said.

To this end, the flight experiment will involve

the use of a new, advanced plant growth facility
known as the Plant Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus
(PGBA), built by BioServe, a NASA Commercial Space
Center located at the University of Colorado in
Boulder. The chamber was first flown on the Space
Shuttle in 1996. "While it was essentially a
hardware verification test, the PGBA produced a
particularly high quality of plant material over the
ten-day mission, which provided a good basis for
further research," Heyenga said.

The PGBA chamber maintains a highly controlled

environment, supplying appropriate light,
temperature and gas exchange conditions. The
chamber will utilize the new modular "nutrient pack
system" designed by Heyenga to supply plants with
water and nutrients throughout the mission. Thirty
packs will be used to support the growth of nine
plant species.

The packs offer several advantages over existing

systems. Depending on the type of supporting
substrate used, packs may reabsorb water from the
chamber's condensate recovery system, closing the
water loop and presenting an important opportunity
for
long-term plant cultivation. A number of packs will
utilize a gel matrix that will allow the examination
of the roots' spatial orientation. Since the matrix
is safely encapsulated in a protective membrane, the
nutrient pack system has been certified for the
first radiolabelling tracing experiment of higher
plants in space. "This technology will open an
entirely new area of space plant physiology,
allowing the study of issues not previously
possible," Heyenga said. "It is likely to lead to
some very exciting results."

The plant species chosen for the flight

experiment include a member of the black pepper
family. This choice was based on a collaborative
effort with a research group in Brazil. "I believe
it is highly important that we utilize every
possible means to expand our understanding in space
research," Heyenga said. "The use of such tropical
species, with their unique and specific metabolic
pathways, hopefully will provide us with an early
indicator of whether our hypothesis is correct while
the plants are exposed to the relatively short
period of microgravity experienced during a typical
Space Shuttle mission."

Despite the complexity of the research program,

Heyenga is pleased with progress so far. "The work
has involved a particularly broad multidisciplinary
effort by a number of organizations. As a visiting
scientist on a National Research Council fellowship,
it is unique to find a place like Ames that can
support this type of activity," he said. "Earlier
work by Dr. Robert MacElroy and Dr. Mark Kliss at
Ames in the area of enclosed plant growth systems
has provided important support for the present
flight experiment."

-end-