A protocol for measuring the response of Arabidopsis roots to gravity and treatment for simulated microgravity

Jinbo Hu; Haiying Chen; Hongxia Wang; Huiqiong Zheng; Weiming Cai; Peipei Xu

doi:10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102099

A protocol for measuring the response of Arabidopsis roots to gravity and treatment for simulated microgravity

STAR Protoc. 2023 Mar 17;4(1):102099. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102099. Epub 2023 Feb 7.

Authors

Jinbo Hu¹, Haiying Chen², Hongxia Wang³, Huiqiong Zheng², Weiming Cai⁴, Peipei Xu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Photosynthesis and Environment, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences (CEMPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 300 Fenglin Road, Shanghai 200032, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China.
² Laboratory of Photosynthesis and Environment, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences (CEMPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 300 Fenglin Road, Shanghai 200032, China.
³ National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China.
⁴ Laboratory of Photosynthesis and Environment, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences (CEMPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 300 Fenglin Road, Shanghai 200032, China. Electronic address: wmcai@cemps.ac.cn.
⁵ Laboratory of Photosynthesis and Environment, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences (CEMPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 300 Fenglin Road, Shanghai 200032, China. Electronic address: ppxu@cemps.ac.cn.

Abstract

We present a protocol to quantify the response of both normal and mutant Arabidopsis seedlings to gravity and simulated microgravity under earth-normal gravity conditions. We describe the steps to simulate microgravity using a three-dimensional (3D) clinostat, which changes the rate and direction at random and consistently rotates the axis horizontally and vertically to counteract the standard gravity at the Earth's surface. We then detail the gravity stimulation experiment, followed by the assessment of root responses using ImageJ-based analysis. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Xu et al. (2022).¹.

Keywords: Model Organisms; Molecular Biology; Plant Sciences.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Arabidopsis Proteins* / genetics
Arabidopsis* / physiology
Plant Roots
Seedlings
Weightlessness*

Substances

Arabidopsis Proteins