Replication of Undifferentiated Cells in a Weightless Environment, Uses Thereof and a Facility for Such Replication and the Acceleration of the Evolution of Plants and Animals

Abstract

The present invention provides manufacturing processes for biological replication of undifferentiated plant and animal cells and tissue in a weightless condition, including those systems used in current stem cell research and development and use of undifferentiated parenchyma in plants. The present invention further provides methods for adapting plants and animals to survive outside their native environments. In particular, undifferentiated cells from plants or animals are replicated under weightless conditions in which cell replication or proliferation is accelerated and sustained. Under such conditions, the undifferentiated cells can be “forced” to express sets of genes useful for survival in particular environmental conditions. In this manner, cells surviving prolonged exposure to specific environmental conditions can be selected for and cultivated to produce an organism adapted to that particular environment in an accelerated manner. Methods of identifying specific genes associated with adaptation of a plant or animal to a specific environment are also disclosed.

1 . A method of producing at least one undifferentiated cell comprising uniting two haploid cells to form a diploid single cell under conditions to support fertilization in a weightless condition or environment, wherein said single cell can replicate itself forming a diploid cell that will not develop into an embryo of differentiated cells and tissue. 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said haploid cells are gametes, and said gametes are a sperm and an egg from an animal or said gametes are a pollen and an ovule from an plant. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising culturing the diploid single cell to replicate in a weightless condition or environment. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein said method further comprises culturing the diploid single cell to obtain multiple replications of said replicated single cell to produce a suspension of undifferentiated cells. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein said method further comprises harvesting the undifferentiated cells from said suspension, and optionally comprises changing the culture conditions of said harvested undifferentiated cells to a state of suspended animation or quiescence. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein said method further comprises changing the culture conditions of said suspension of undifferentiated cells to a state of suspended animation or quiescence. 
     
     
         7 . An isolated diploid single cell produced by the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         8 . A method of producing at least one undifferentiated cell comprising uniting two haploid cells to form a diploid single cell under conditions to support fertilization in a gravity condition or environment under normal earth gravity, after unification is complete, preserving the resulting diploid single cell so that no replication of the diploid single cell occurs, reviving the diploid single cell under a weightless condition or environment, and culturing the diploid single cell in culture medium in a weightless condition or environment to obtain replication of the diploid single cell that will not develop into an embryo of differentiated cells and tissue. 
     
     
         9 . A method of administration of the undifferentiated diploid cells to a subject or patient in need of treatment by the undifferentiated cells comprising administering a composition comprising more than one diploid single cells, and optionally a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, wherein the diploid single cell is produced any one of the methods of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         10 . A method of adapting a plant or an animal to grow in a hostile environment comprising:
 (a) culturing undifferentiated cells from a plant or an animal in a weightless condition that mimics at least one element of the hostile environment to which the plant or animal is to be adapted; and   (b) selecting the cells that replicate in said condition.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising the step of cultivating the selected cells to produce a mature plant or a mature animal. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising the step of evaluating said mature plant or said mature animal in said hostile environment. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein said mature plant or said mature animal is evaluated for length of survival, growth rate, reproductive capability, cell structure, and gene expression, or combinations thereof. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein undifferentiated cells are obtained from uniting a pollen and ovule of a plant or a sperm and an egg of an animal prior to culturing in a weightless condition or environment. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein said at least one element of the hostile environment is selected from the group consisting of heat, cold, low barometric pressure, excessive radiation, high carbon dioxide levels, low oxygen levels, low humidity, high humidity, extreme salinity, reduced or increased exposure to sunlight, and low water or drought conditions. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the undifferentiated cells are obtained by uniting a pollen and an ovule from the plant or the sperm and egg of an animal to form a diploid single cell under conditions to support fertilization in a weightless condition or environment, wherein said single cell can replicate itself forming a diploid cell that will not develop into an embryo of differentiated cells and tissue. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising the steps of:
 (c) examining the gene expression profile of the selected cells in comparison to the gene expression profile of control cells; and   (d) identifying genes that have a change in expression level as compared to the gene expression profile of the control cell; wherein said identified genes are associated with adaptation to the hostile environment.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the change in expression level is at least four-fold in comparison to the expression profile of control cells. 
     
     
         19 . A plant produced by the method of  claim 11 . 
     
     
         20 . An animal produced by the method of  claim 11 .