2026 PSM/HRT Fall Seminar Series presents: Burcu Alptekin
November 4, 2026 12:00PM - 1:00PM
For ZOOM info contact Tayla Esquivel
Burcu Alptekin, Ph.D.Ohio University, Department of Environmental and Plant Biology (Host: Mark Williams)
Pre-set for Stress: Root Microbiota Reshape Arabidopsis Responses to Space Radiation
In the 21st century, plants face a myriad of stresses, ranging from familiar ones, such as drought or salt stress, to entirely new ones. 
Human space exploration places plants in an alien environment of altered gravity and high-energy cosmic radiation. But how alien are these stresses to Earth-evolved plants? At the Alptekin Lab, we investigate how plants respond to the abiotic stresses of Earth and space, and what makes each response unique or shared. There is one feature common to both worlds: plants act as holobionts. On Earth or in space, plants host microbial communities that come from the soil, the spacecraft or even the astronauts’ skin. These microbes can change the physiology, metabolism and gene expression of their host, and consequently how the host responds to stress.
This seminar presents how a root microbial community reshapes the plant response to space radiation. Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings, with or without a bacterial synthetic community (SynCom), were exposed to simulated galactic cosmic radiation. Colonized plants started from a different baseline, with elevated redox and oxidative stress pathways, which appeared to buffer plants against radiation. Root exudate profiles also supported this pattern, while the composition of the microbial community itself remained unchanged. Together, these results suggest that microbes pre-set the internal state of the plant and change how it responds to a new stress. Our findings imply that future space farmers will need to choose their plants’ microbial partners carefully, whether on the Moon or Mars. This work also re-emphasizes the importance of plant microbial communities for adapting crops to the stressful environment of our changing planet Earth.
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