Plant Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) Regulation Harvest

iss049e053079 (9/23/2016) --- NASA astronaut Kate Rubins is photographed in U.S. lab aboard the International Space Station (ISS) performing the second harvest of the Plant RNA Regulation experiment by stowing the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) Seed Cassettes from EMCS Rotors A and B in an EMCS Cold Stowage Pouch and placing them in Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI). The Plant RNA Regulation investigation studies the first steps of gene expression involved in development of roots and shoots. Scientists expect to find new molecules that play a role in how plants adapt and respond to the microgravity environment of space, which provides new insight into growing plants for food and oxygen supplies on long-duration missions. Sent as part of Russian Return imagery on 47S.