Natural sunscreens can help the seeds of oxen flowers survive interplanetary journeys.

A new study has found that natural sunscreens can help the seeds of oxen flowers survive doses of ultraviolet radiation that burn most human skin.
the cold seeds of ordinary flowering plants may even survive an interplanetary journey, the researchers said.
the discovery could help researchers determine which species could participate in future exploration missions to Mars, a place that has been bombarded by ultraviolet light because of its thin atmosphere.
it also validates the concept of a living source that life could migrate in the solar system or other galaxies by rideing an asteroid or comet's wind train. Chandra Wickramasinghe, director of the Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Buckingham in the UK, who was not involved in the study, said:
The findings add new evidence that there are sources of life that are not only possible, but absolutely inevitable.
study began 10 years ago, when astronauts placed about 2,000 seeds from tobacco plants and a flowering plant called athropophymes outside the International Space Station.
558 days, the seeds were exposed to high levels of ultraviolet light, cosmic radiation and extreme temperature fluctuations , conditions that are fatal for most life forms.
, however, when the seeds returned to Earth in 2009, about 20 percent of the seeds sprouted and grew into normal plants.
is ideal for storing life," says David Tepfer, an emeritus botanist at the Palace of Versailles Research Centre at the French National Institute of Agriculture.
", but scientists are just beginning to understand how the seeds survived.
now, 10 years later, Tepfer and Sydney Leach, a retired physicist at the Paris-Merton Observatory in France, have studied the DNA of some of the seeds of space travel.
scientists looked at seeds that no one was trying to germinate, and they inserted a small piece of genetic code into the genome before leaving Earth.
the code allowed researchers to test the structure and function of DNA exposed to space and find degradation in both groups.
Tepfer and Leach point out that some structural units of DNA may have undergone a chemical fusion process in which genetic code tends to be infercted.
Tepfer speculates that seeds damaged by ultraviolet rays with short wavelengths could germinate if they repair DNA damage as they grow.
scientists want to see how much abuse a seed can withstand.
follow-up tests in the lab, Tepfer and Leach exposed three plants - oxen flowers, tobacco and athropophymeal seeds - to high doses of ultraviolet light.
, Tepfer and Leach believe that the seeds of oxchip flowers may be based on their larger shells and tough skins, allowing them to survive in the soil for more than 50 years.
researchers found that only seeds that hold bovine flowers can germinate after exposure to ultraviolet light, which is about 6 million times the dose normally used to disinfect drinking water, which kills smaller seeds of tobacco and athropomorth.
team noted that a protective layer containing flavonoids, a compound commonly found in red wine and tea that can be used as a natural sunscreen, may be associated with this extra vitality of oxen seeds.
researchers report the findings in a recent issue of the journal Astrobiology.
Tepfer noted that feeding animals a diet containing high flavonoids may improve their uv ray resistance, making them more suitable for interstellar travel.
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