Space experiments have offered a unique opportunity to analyse the mec
hanism of gravisensing in plant roots. It has been shown that the stri
ct structural polarity of statocytes observed on the ground is perturb
ed in microgravity: the amyloplasts move towards the proximal half of
the cell and, at least in some cases, the nucleus becomes located furt
her away from the (proximal) plasma membrane. It has thus been demonst
rated that the amyloplasts do not move freely in the cytoplasm. Experi
ments using cytochalasin B (or D) have indicated that these organelles
are attached to the actin network, probably by motor proteins. These
findings have led to a new hypothesis on gravisensing the basis of whi
ch is that the tension in the actin filaments resulting from interacti
on with the statoliths would be transmitted to stretch-activated ion c
hannels located in the plasma membrane (Sievers et al., 1991, In: Lloy
d (ed) The cytoskeletal basis of plant growth and form, Academic Press
, London New York, pp 169-182. Recently, it has been shown that the se
nsitivity of roots grown under 1 g conditions in orbit is less than th
at of roots grown in microgravity or under simulated weightlessness on
clinostats. Since the location of the amyloplasts in microgravity is
different from that in 1 g, the greater sensitivity observed could be
due to different tensions in the actin network.