Dataset Information

A New Remote Sensing-Based System for the Monitoring and Analysis of Growth and Gas Exchange Rates of Photosynthetic Microorganisms Under Simulated Non-Terrestrial Conditions.

ABSTRACT: Oxygenic photosynthetic microorganisms are a focal point of research in the context of human space exploration. As part of the bioregenerative life-support systems, they could have a key role in the production of breathable O2, edible biomasses and in the regeneration of CO2 rich-atmospheres and wastewaters produced by astronauts. The test of the organism's response to simulated physico-chemical parameters of planetary bodies could also provide important information about their habitability potential. It is believed that the success of future planetary and space missions will require innovative technologies, developed on the base of preliminary experiments in custom-made laboratory facilities. In this context, simulation chambers will play a pivotal role by allowing the growth of the microorganisms under controlled conditions and the evaluation in real-time of their biomass productivity and impact on atmosphere composition. We here present a system capable of addressing these requirements with high replicability and low costs. The setup is composed by three main parts: 1) a Star Light Simulator, able to generate different light intensities and spectra, including those of non-solar stars; 2) an Atmosphere Simulator Chamber where cultures of photosynthetic microorganisms can be exposed to different gas compositions; 3) a reflectivity detection system to measure from remote the Normalized Difference Vegetation Indexes (NDVI). Such a setup allows us to monitor photosynthetic microorganism's growth and gas exchange performances under selected conditions of light quality and intensity, temperature, pressure, and atmospheres simulating non-terrestrial environments. All parameters are detected by remote sensing techniques, thus without interfering with the experiments and altering the environmental conditions set. We validated the setup by growing cyanobacteria liquid cultures under different light intensities of solar illumination, collecting data on their growth rate, photosynthetic activity, and gas exchange capacity. We utilized the reflectivity detection system to measure the reflection spectra of the growing cultures, obtaining their relative NDVI that was shown to correlate with optical density, chlorophyll content, and dry weight, demonstrating the potential application of this index as a proxy of growth.

SUBMITTER: Battistuzzi M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7066451 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A New Remote Sensing-Based System for the Monitoring and Analysis of Growth and Gas Exchange Rates of Photosynthetic Microorganisms Under Simulated Non-Terrestrial Conditions.

Battistuzzi Mariano M Cocola Lorenzo L Salasnich Bernardo B Erculiani M Sergio MS Alei Eleonora E Morosinotto Tomas T Claudi Riccardo R Poletto Luca L La Rocca Nicoletta N

Frontiers in plant science 20200304

Oxygenic photosynthetic microorganisms are a focal point of research in the context of human space exploration. As part of the bioregenerative life-support systems, they could have a key role in the production of breathable O<sub>2</sub>, edible biomasses and in the regeneration of CO<sub>2</sub> rich-atmospheres and wastewaters produced by astronauts. The test of the organism's response to simulated physico-chemical parameters of planetary bodies could also provide important information about t ...[more]

PMID: 32210991

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Project description:BackgroundPhotosynthesis of reproductive organs in C3 cereals is generally regarded as important to crop yield. Whereas, photosynthetic characteristics of reproductive organs are much less understood as compared to leaf photosynthesis, mainly due to methodological limitations. To date, many indirect methods have been developed to study photosynthesis of reproductive organs and its contribution to grain yield, such as organ shading, application of herbicides and photosynthetic measurement of excised organs or tissues, which might be intrusive and cause biases. Thus, a robust and in situ approach needs to be developed.ResultsHere we report the development of a custom-built panicle photosynthesis chamber (P-chamber), which can be connected to standard infrared gas analyzers to study photosynthetic/respiratory rate of a rice panicle. With the P-chamber, we measured panicle photosynthetic characteristics of seven high-yielding elite japonica, japonica-indica hybrid and indica rice cultivars. Results show that, (1) rice panicle is photosynthetically active during grain filling, and there are substantial inter-cultivar variations in panicle photosynthetic and respiratory rates, no matter on a whole panicle basis, on an area basis or on a single spikelet basis; (2) among the seven testing cultivars, whole-panicle gross photosynthetic rates are 17-54 nmol s-1 5 days after heading under photon flux density (PFD) of 2000 ?mol (photons) m-2 s-1, which represent some 20-38% of that of the corresponding flag leaves; (3) rice panicle photosynthesis has higher apparent CO2 compensation point, light compensation point and apparent CO2 saturation point, as compared to that of a typical leaf; (4) there is a strong and significant positive correlation between gross photosynthetic rate 5 days after heading on a single spikelet basis and grain setting rate at harvest (Pearson correlation coefficient r?=?0.93, p value?<?0.0001).ConclusionsRice panicle gross photosynthesis is significant, has great natural variation, and plays an underappreciated role in grain yield formation. The P-Chamber can be used as a tool to study in situ photosynthetic characteristics of irregular non-foliar plant organs, such as ears, culms, leaf sheaths, fruits and branches, which is a relatively less explored area in current cereal breeding community.

Dataset Information

A New Remote Sensing-Based System for the Monitoring and Analysis of Growth and Gas Exchange Rates of Photosynthetic Microorganisms Under Simulated Non-Terrestrial Conditions.

Publications

A New Remote Sensing-Based System for the Monitoring and Analysis of Growth and Gas Exchange Rates of Photosynthetic Microorganisms Under Simulated Non-Terrestrial Conditions.

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