Gravitational Biology I

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

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2. Gravity Sensing, Graviorientation and Microgravity

   • Donat-Peter Häder, Markus Braun, Ruth Hemmersbach

   Pages 1-11

3. Methods for Gravitational Biology Research

   • Ruth Hemmersbach, Donat-Peter Häder, Markus Braun

   Pages 13-26

4. Gravitaxis in Flagellates and Ciliates

   • Donat-Peter Häder, Ruth Hemmersbach

   Pages 27-45

5. Gravitropism in Tip-Growing Rhizoids and Protonemata of Characean Algae

   • Markus Braun

   Pages 47-65

6. Gravitropism in Fungi, Mosses and Ferns

   • Donat-Peter Häder

   Pages 67-74

7. Gravitropism in Higher Plants: Cellular Aspects

   • Dennis Said Gadalla, Markus Braun, Maik Böhmer

   Pages 75-92

8. Gravitropism in Higher Plants: Molecular Aspects

   • Klaus Palme, William Teale, Franck Ditengou

   Pages 93-111

9. Bioregenerative Life Support Systems in Space Research

   • Donat-Peter Häder, Markus Braun, Ruth Hemmersbach

   Pages 113-122

This book summarizes what is currently known about gravity sensing and response mechanisms in microorganisms, fungi, lower and higher plants; starting from the historical eye-opening experiments from the 19^th century up to today’s extremely rapid advancing cellular, molecular and biotechnological research. All forms of life are constantly exposed to gravity and it can be assumed that almost all organisms have developed sensors and respond in one way or the other to the unidirectional acceleration force,this books shows us some of these different ways.

The book is written for plant biologists and microbiologists as well as scientists interested in space and gravitational biology.

• artificial gravity
• gravity sensing
• gravitropism
• graviorientation
• gravitropic signaling pathway
• gravitaxis
• hypergravity
• higher plants
• lower plants
• microgravity
• microorganisms

“I found this volume to be a well-written introduction to the topics of gravitropism, gravitaxis, and plant space biology. The book is recommended for new graduate students in the field of gravitational and space biology of plants and will provide a great overview to this group.” (John Z. Kiss, Plant Science Bulletin, Vol. 64 (3), 2018)

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• Space Administration, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Bonn, Germany

  Markus Braun

• Institute for Molecular Biosciences, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

  Maik Böhmer

• Emeritus from Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen Nürnberg, Germany

  Donat-Peter Häder

• Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, Germany

  Ruth Hemmersbach

• Institute of Biology II/Molecular Plant Physiology, Faculty of Biology, BIOSS Centre for Biological Signaling Studies, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

  Klaus Palme

Dr. rer. nat. habil. Markus Braun is Head of the Space Life Sciences Program, Space Administration, German Aerospace Center DLR and serves as German delegate of the Human Spaceflight, Microgravity and Exploration Program Board of the European Space Agency ESA. He is appointed faculty member at the University Bonn and coordinator of the Gravitational Biology Group. Special focus of his research is on gravitational biology, plant gravity sensing mechanisms and bioregenerative life support. He was principle investigator of gravitational biology projects conducted on microgravity simulators, sounding rockets, parabolic flights, Space Shuttles, biosatellites and on the International Space Station.

 

Dr. rer. nat. Maik Böhmer is a lecturer and group leader at the Institute for Plant Biology and Biotechnology at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität (WWU) Münster. He has received his PhD from the Max-Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne and worked as a PhD fellow at the University of California San Diego. His research topic is plant adaptations to adverse environments, including drought, salinity, pathogens and microgravity. Since 2012 he is involved in gravitational biology research and has been a Principal Investigator (PI) in several micro-g related drop tower and parabolic flight campaigns.

Prof. em. Dr. Dr. h.c. Donat-Peter Häder is retired director of the Botanical Institute and Botanical Garden at the Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and held the chair for Ecophysiology. His research focuses on the behavioral, physiological and molecular graviperception mechanisms in microorganisms using parabolic flights, sounding rockets, satellites and the International Space Station (ISS) as well as simulated microgravity. He has been principal investigator (PI) of several micro-g related studies on ground and in space. He is the author of close to 700 publications and has written, translated and edited 28 books.

Dr. rer. nat. habil. Ruth Hemmersbach is Head of Division Gravitational Biology and Deputy Director of the Institute of Aerospace Medicine of the German Aerospace Center DLR. Her research topics are related to questions in gravitational biology with a focus on gravisensory mechanisms in single cells. She and her team have developed devices for studies under altered gravity conditions (centrifuges for artificial gravity and microgravity simulators). She has been principle investigator of gravitational biology projects conducted on various platforms providing real microgravity conditions.

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Klaus Palme is Head of the Department of Botany/Plant Molecular Physiology at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Biosystems Analysis and Member of the Center of Biological Signalling Studies. His research on plant hormone signalling made globally acknowledged breakthroughs fuelling the analysis of this important plant process for many years and by numerous followers around the world. He opened new important fields in plant biology. Many of his more than 200 publications are highly cited. He participated in many Parabolic Flight campaigns and space missions (ISS, MASER, TEXUS).

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