Apollo 12 Lunar Material: Effects on Lipid Levels of Tobacco Tissue Cultures
John D. Weete 1,
Charles H. Walkinshaw 2, and
John L. Laseter 3
1 Lunar Science Institute, Houston, Texas 77058
2 Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Lunar Receiving Laboratory, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Houston, Texas 77058
3 Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, New Orleans 70122
Tobacco tissue cultures grown in contact with lunar material from Apollo 12, for a 12-week period, resulted in fluctuations of both the relative and absolute concentrations of endogenous sterols and fatty acids. The experimental tissues contained higher concentrations of sterols than the controls did. The ratio of campesterol to stigmasterol was greater than 1 in control tissues, but less than 1 in the experimental tissues after 3 weeks. High relative concentrations (17.1 to 22.2 percent) of an unidentified compound or compounds were found only in control tissues that were 3 to 9 weeks of age.
