Displacement of statoliths in Chara rhizoids during horizontal rotation on clinostats

The basipetal movement of statoliths in Chara rhizoids, similar to that during parabolic flights of TEXUS rockets occurs also during rotation on clinostats. Within 15 min on fast-rotating clinostat, the distance between the center of the statolith complex and the cell vertex increases for 60% of that in positively gravitropic downward growing rhizoids. Cytochalasin D experiments confirm that the movement of statoliths is actin-dependent and the actin filaments exert basipetal forces on statoliths in gravity field. The clinostat and/or cytochalasin experiments confirm the suggestion that on earth the position of statoliths depends on the balance of the gravitational force and the counteracting force mediated by actin filaments. The statolith center keeps a stable position during about 30 min on a fast-rotating clinostat, i.e. it is then in a new dynamically stable state. This new state is achieved 15 min after the basipetal acting filament-mediated force has been disturbed by clinostatting. Further experiments on the fast-rotating clinostat show that this new position brings about a reorganization of actin filaments which makes the process of acropetal transport of statoliths possible. The amplitude of particle oscillatory movement decreases as the rotational speed of the clinostat increases. This explains the differences of the results obtained from the experiments on fast-rotating and slow-rotating clinostats. It should be kept in mind that rhizoids are unicellular. The fast-rotating clinostat is suitable for simulation of conditions without gravity when a rhizoid is on the axis of rotation. The interaction of statoliths and actin filaments at zero gravity can be studied by means of such a clinostat.