Plants grown in Apollo lunar regolith present stress-associated transcriptomes that inform prospects for lunar exploration

The ability of plants to thrive in extraterrestrial environments using in-situ resources determines the extent to which they can enhance human life support on other worlds. Using samples from Apollo 11, 12, and 17, this study shows that *Arabidopsis thaliana* germinates and grows in diverse lunar regoliths. However, growth was challenging; plants were slow to develop and exhibited severe stress morphologies. Gene expression analysis revealed ionic stresses similar to plant responses to salt, metals, and reactive oxygen species. While lunar regolith can be useful for plant production in lunar habitats, it's not a benign substrate. Further research is needed to understand and mitigate the plant-regolith interaction for efficient use of lunar regolith in life support systems.

Anna-Lisa Paul, Stephen M. Elardo, Robert Ferl