Ph.D. Graduate Student Purdue University - Lafayette, Indiana
Body of Abstract: Growing crops in microgravity environments is essential for long-distance space travel, but crop diseases present a substantial challenge in deep space, just as they do on Earth. However, knowledge of plant immunity is largely restricted to how plant species respond to pathogens on Earth. Understanding how plants and their pathogens respond to spaceflight conditions is essential for future space exploration. To bridge this knowledge gap, we conducted a study to investigate how the immune system of tomato plants responds to spaceflight. We are growing tomato plants in the Advanced Plant Habitat at the International Space Station (ISS) and Kennedy Space Center. We administered a chemical immune elicitor, salicylic acid, to both sets of plants and harvested them 24 and 48 hours after application. Upon return to Earth, we will use next-generation sequencing to compare the genome-wide transcriptional responses between tomato plants grown on Earth and the ISS. This research will provide valuable insights into how plant immune responses are altered during spaceflight, which is essential for growing horticultural crops in space.