Space cucumbers reveal secrets of plant survival

Plants are experts in survival and can control the direction of their roots to maximize the use of resources around them. Using specialized cells, they can sense gravity and redistribute hormones, called auxins, to stimulate growth and allow vital features of the plant to develop. However, a big puzzle is how this transport process occurs at a cellular level. To learn more, researchers in Japan examined cucumber seedlings germinated under the very weak gravity—or microgravity—conditions of the International Space Station.

Read the whole article on Physorg

More from Physorg