Characteristics of Phenotype and Isozyme Variation in Salvia miltiorrhiza after Spaceflight

Abstract

To investigate the mechanism of spaceflight induced mutations, the dried seeds of Salvia miltiorrhiza, carried by the Shenzhou-7 spaceship of China in 2008 for 68h, were studied. After spaceflight, a mutant of salvia (SP) with large leaves and dwarf stem, whose phenotype was different from the ground control (CK), was obtained from the seedlings of the recovered spaceship-flown germinated seeds. Major characteristics of the SP phenotype included the large leaves with dark green color, deeply folded leaf surface, dwarf stems and less stem section space. Polyacryamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) was used for analyzing the soluble protein, CAT, POD and SOD isozyme of SP1 and CK. The results revealed that space flight led to changes in the plant's soluble protein, CAT, POD and SOD isozymes in terms of bands, numbers and vigor of SP. The content of soluble protein in SP was higher than that of CK and the activities of isozyme increased, which indicated that seeds of S. miltiorrhiza appeared to be significantly affected after being exposed to space conditions. These experimental results demonstrated that space flight has the influence to the phenotype and physiological characteristics of S. miltiorrhiza. The space condition could bring inheritable mutagenic effects on S. miltiorrhiza seeds and may be used as a tool for accelerating the progress in S. miltiorrhiza breeding. Acknowledgements: This work is supported by the Science and Technology Committee of Hunan Province numbers 2010sk3013 and State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Hunan province numbers 201105.