A closed system experiment was carried out this year (February-May, 2005) to grow 3rd generation Mir wheat seeds to 4th generation. These plants were grown alongside control plants - plants of the same species that were grown on earth. Tissue from both the Mir generation plants and earth-based plants were collected for analysis to test an hypothesis that plants grown in space will pass on a cellular memory of being in zero-g to successive generations and these generations will express the trait even though they are grown on earth.

The experiment was conducted by Biosphere Foundation and Biospheric Design with Galina Nechitailo, Biotechnika Russian State Institute, and scientists at the University of Florida.

Rob Ferl and Anna-Lisa Paul, University of Florida, will look at the gene expression profiles of Apogee wheat grown from the Mir-raised seed and the Apogee control.

In the photo above, the small plant to the left is the 4th generation wheat seed from Mir. The wheat plant just to its right, is the control wheat.