Fungi in space--literature survey on fungi used for space research.
A complete review of the scientific literature on experiments involving fungi in space is presented. This review begins with balloon experiments around 1935 which carried fungal spores, rocket experiments in the 1950's and 60's, satellite and moon expeditions, long-time orbit experiments and Spacelab missions in the 1980's and 90's. All these missions were aimed at examining the influence of cosmic radiation and weightlessness on genetic, physiological, and morphogenetic processes. During the 2nd German Spacelab mission (D-2, April/May 1993), the experiment FUNGI provided the facilities to cultivate higher basidiomycetes over a period of 10 d in orbit, document gravimorphogenesis and chemically fix fruiting bodies under weightlessness for subsequent ultrastructural analysis. This review shows the necessity of space travel for research on the graviperception of higher fungi and demonstrates the novelty of the experiment FUNGI performed within the framework of the D-2 mission.
Kern
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Department of Botany, Technical University of Munchen at Weihenstephan, Freising, Germany.
Hock
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D003359:Cosmic Radiation; D005658:Fungi / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D018466:Gravity Sensing / Q000502:physiology*; D013026:Space Flight; D018531:Spacecraft; D014893:Weightlessness