Transcriptome Analysis of Oryza sativa Calli Under Microgravity

Abstract

The transcriptome of Oryza sativacalli was analyzed on board the Chinese spaceship “Shenzhou 8” to study the effects of microgravity on plant signal transduction and secondary metabolism (as one of the experiments with SIMBOX on Shenzhou 8). Calli of Oryza sativa were pre-cultured for 4 days on ground and then loaded into the stationary platform or the rotating platform of a biological incubator, called SIMBOX, to grow in space under microgravity conditions or 1g-conditions, respectively. The calli were fixed by RNAlater after grew 324 h under microgravity. After 17 days, Shenzhou 8 returned to Earth carrying SIMBOX. Oryza sativa calli were recovered, and the RNA was extracted for transcriptome analysis. After comparing 1 gspaceflight controls-inflight controls with 1 g-ground controls, 157 probe sets with different expression levels (fold change ≥2, p<0.05) were identified. When comparing spaceflight controls to 1 g-ground controls and to 1 g-inflight controls, 678 probe sets with different expression levels (fold change ≥2, p<0.05) were identified. The fact that the same 678 probe sets were identified in these two comparisons suggests that transcription was affected under microgravity conditions. MapMan analysis was used to classify 627 microgravity responsive (MR) transcripts. The MR transcripts were mainly involved in cell wall structure, the TCA cycle, primary metabolism, transcription, protein modification and degradation, hormone metabolism, calcium regulation, receptor like kinase activity and transport.