Plant Responses to Fractional Gravity in Space

How do plants sense gravity? How will plants grow on the Moon and Mars? Dr. Wolverton and his team, with support from NASA, carried out a series of experiments on the International Space Station to find answers to these questions. Chris Wolverton is Professor of Botany and Microbiology at Ohio Wesleyan University where he teaches courses in introductory cell biology, genetics, and plant physiology. His lab studies plant gravity perception and its influence on the control of differential growth and root system architecture in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.