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| Gene Transfer Experiment using ASTROCULTURETM Glove Box (ASC-GB) |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Bratislav Stankovic,Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis |
| Project Scientist: Dr. Weijia Zhou, Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. |
| Overview |
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Objectives: The objective of the experiment is to evaluate a novel method for production of commercially important transgenic plant materials in microgravity using Agrobacterium tumefaciens. This transformation method, developed by the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics and its industrial partner, was first tested during the STS-95 mission in October 1998. That testing found increased transformation efficiency in comparison to the identical ground experiments. The gene transfer experiment to be conducted on the STS-101 mission is a cooperative venture between Producers' Natural Processing Corporation (PNP) and the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics. PNP is a for-profit, privately owned company which: takes advantage of proprietary patented technologies in genetic transformation that will allow in planta production of proteins, enzymes, antibodies and vaccines; utilizes its relationship with prominent life science companies to deliver specific, identity-preserved crop attributes to the end user; and utilizes its new product development division and partners for the production of nutraceuticals, industrial enzymes, plant-based edible vaccines, and pharmaceutical intermediates. Description: Crop production and utilization are undergoing significant modifications and improvements that emanate from adaptation of recently developed plant biotechnologies. One of these is the transfer of desirable genes from organisms to economically important crop species in a way that cannot be accomplished with traditional plant breeding techniques. These new technologies offer opportunities to improve crop species in various characteristics, as well as to use source materials for specific industrial applications, and hence, to convert plant materials that originally have no commercial values to plant materials that represent commercially important crop varieties. For the STS-101 mission, a sample size of 1,000 soybean seeds will be co-incubated on orbit, with Agrobacterium tumefaciens containing the proprietary commercial gene and rs-GFP reporter gene that will be used for in vivo detection of transformation events that had occurred during the time the seeds were in microgravity. The results will be analyzed to determine the percentage of transient and stable transformation events, which will be compared with the results obtained during the STS-95 mission. During the STS-101 mission, the transformation procedures will be performed by the crew. The ASTROCULTURETM flight experiment series is sponsored by the Space Product Development Program managed at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. |
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