Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University, Manhattan.
Plants grown in spaceflight conditions are more susceptible to colonization by plant pathogens.
The underlying causes for this enhanced susceptibility are not known. Possible causes are that the formation of structural barriers or the activation of plant defense response components are impaired in spaceflight conditions. Either mechanism would result from altered gene expression of the plant. Because of the tools available, past studies focused on limited physiological responses or biochemical pathways. With recent advances in genomics research, new tools, including microarray technologies, are available to examine the global impact of growth in the spacecraft on the plant's gene expression profile.