Fig. 6: Simulated microgravity does not recapitulate the telomerase and oxidative stress phenotypes of space-flown Arabidopsis.

a Photo of 12-day-old 35S::RPL18 and Col-0 seedlings grown on an RPM. b PETRA results for 12-day-old 35 S::RPL18 A. thaliana seedlings grown in an RPM or in 1 g. Chromosome arms 5 R, 2 R and 1 L from pooled shoots (left) and roots (right) were analyzed; n = 3 for both ground control and RPM shoots. For roots, n = 2 for ground controls, and n = 4 for RPM samples. c (left) Telomere length for each biological root (left, top) and shoot (left, bottom) samples shown as mean and SD from chromosome arms in panel b and analyzed with WALTER. (right) Combined mean telomere length for each chromosome arm from root (right, top) and shoot samples (right, bottom) analyzed by WALTER with relative telomere length changes in base pairs (ΔTL) indicated. Results displayed as violin plot showing all biological points, and p calculated by two-way RM ANOVA. d Q-TRAP results for control and RPM-grown 35S::RPL18 roots (left) and shoots (right). For 1 g controls, n = 5 and for RPM n = 5. For each biological replicate, three technical replicates were performed. Within the boxplot, the middle line represents the median, box boundaries signify 25th and 75th percentiles, and whiskers the lowest and highest values. P = 0.2648 for shoots and p = 0.037 for roots calculated by unpaired two-tailed Welch’s t-test. e Genomic 8-oxoG (relative to total genomic guanine content) measured by ELISA. Results for RPM shoots and 1 g 35 S::RPL18 control shoots are shown. For biological replicates, n = 10 for both 1 g controls and RPM samples. Two technical replicates were performed for each biological replicate. Two-tailed Mann-Whitney test, p = 0.4241. f (left) Relative abundance of mtDNA measured by qPCR in RPM and 1 g control plants. Each individual is shown as mean and SD from multiple mitochondrial markers (cox1, atp1, rps4) relative to nuclear DNA markers (RpoTp and RpoTm). (right) Relative abundance of mtDNA in RPM. P = 0.2366 by unpaired two-tailed Welch’s test, 13 total combined measurements from 1 g control and 14 total combined measurements from RPM, obtained from n = 5 in both treatments. Within the boxplot, the middle line represents the median, box boundaries signify 25th and 75th percentiles, and whiskers the lowest and highest values. g (left) Relative abundance of cpDNA measured by qPCR in RPM and 1 g control plants. Each individual is shown as mean and SD from multiple chloroplast markers (clpP, psbA, and ndhH) relative to nuclear DNA markers (RpoTp and RpoTm). (right) Relative abundance of cpDNA in RPM. P = 0.0853 by unpaired two-tailed Welch’s test, 14 total combined measurements obtained from n = 5 in both treatments. Within the boxplot, the middle line represents the median, box boundaries signify 25th and 75th percentiles, and whiskers the lowest and highest values. Source data provided as Source Data File.