Mutations of photosystem II D1 protein that empower efficient phenotypes of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under extreme environment in space.

ABSTRACT: Space missions have enabled testing how microorganisms, animals and plants respond to extra-terrestrial, complex and hazardous environment in space. Photosynthetic organisms are thought to be relatively more prone to microgravity, weak magnetic field and cosmic radiation because oxygenic photosynthesis is intimately associated with capture and conversion of light energy into chemical energy, a process that has adapted to relatively less complex and contained environment on Earth. To study the direct effect of the space environment on the fundamental process of photosynthesis, we sent into low Earth orbit space engineered and mutated strains of the unicellular green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, which has been widely used as a model of photosynthetic organisms. The algal mutants containe

SUBMITTER: Giardi MT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3653854 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature