Plant Physiology Team

Leader

prof. dr hab. Arkadiusz Kosmala

Members

dr hab. Izabela Pawłowicz

dr hab. Danuta Babula-Skowrońska

dr Joanna Majka

dr Dawid Perlikowski

mgr inż. Włodzimierz Zwierzykowski

mgr Magdalena Taciak

mgr Natalia Żyła (PhD student)

mgr inż. Adrianna Czapiewska (PhD student)

mgr Julia Górna (PhD student)

mgr Magda Grodoń (PhD student)

From left to right: A. Kosmala, J. Górna, A. Czapiewska, I. Pawłowicz, W. Zwierzykowski, D. Babula-Skowrońska, N. Żyła, D. Perlikowski

Research profile

The research is focused on the mechanisms of tolerance to abiotic stresses (low temperature, soil drought, and salinity) in Lolium-Festuca grasses and on the mechanisms involved in regulating the activity of duplicated genes in various biological processes in Brassica napus.

We analyze:

• physiological parameters,
• root system architecture,
• gene expression at transcript and protein levels,
• gene promoters,
• antioxidant system efficiency,
• primary metabolites and lipids accumulation,
• protein-protein interactions (yeast two-hybrid system, pull-down, BiFC),
• gene functions (using e.g. CRISPR/Cas9 system).

We recognized (that) (2019-2025):

• Drought tolerance of Lolium multiflorum/Festuca arundinacea hybrids depends mainly on the length of their root system and its ability to penetrate the soil under water deficit. In turn, drought tolerance of F. arundinacea is more dependent on the metabolism of root system (Perlikowski et al. 2019, 2020).
• Accumulation of triacylglycerols (TAG) under water deficit in Lolium-Festuca grasses protect plant cells against accumulation of toxic, polyunsaturated free fatty acids. Moreover, these TAGs can be further used as a source of substrates to regenerate cellular membranes after stress cessation (Perlikowski et al. 2022b). 
• Accumulation profiles of selected primary metabolites and lipids in the crown tissue can be good indicators of both drought tolerance and potential to regenerate after stress cessation in Festuca arundinacea and Lolium multiflorum/F. arundinacea hybrids (Perlikowski et al. 2023).
• Triplication of BnaABI1 in Brassica napus had effects on both its functions and the positions of adjacent genes in the corresponding chromosomal regions. Expression profiling of BnaABI1 genes revealed functional divergence, i.e. subfunctionalization, possibly leading to neofunctionalization under abiotic stress  (Babula-Skowrońska 2021).
• The genome sequence and annotation of allotetraploid species Festuca galucescens (Pawłowicz et al. 2025).

Key words

drought tolerance, salinity tolerance, frost tolerance, winter-hardiness, cold acclimation and de-acclimation, plant basic metabolism, gene expression, functional analysis, Lolium-Festuca, Brassica, evolutionary biology, regulatory diversity

Selected recent publications (see all in Scopus)

Żyła N., Cieśla A., Szała L., Babula-Skowrońska D. (2024). Functional and regulatory diversity of homeobox-leucine zipper transcription factors BnaHB6 under dehydration and salt stress in Brassica napus L. Plant Molecular Biology 114 (3): 59 DOI: 10.1007/s11103-024-01465-6

Pawłowicz I; Kopeć P; Kosmala A. (2025). The draft genome assembly and annotation of allotetraploid Festuca glaucescens. BMC Plant Biology 25: 1590 DOI: 10.1186/s12870-025-07558-8. 

Perlikowski D., Skirycz A., Marczak Ł., Lechowicz K., Augustyniak A., Michäelis A., Kosmala A. (2023). Metabolism of crown tissue is crucial for drought tolerance and recovery after stress cessation in Lolium/Festuca forage grasses. Journal of Experimental Botany 74: 396-414 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erac398

Żyła N., Babula-Skowrońska D. (2023). Evolutionary consequences of functional and regulatory divergence of HD-Zip I transcription factors as a source of diversity in protein interaction networks in plants. Journal of  Molecular Evolution 91: 581-597 DOI: 10.1007/s00239-023-10121-4

Perlikowski D., Lechowicz K., Pawłowicz I., Arasimowicz-Jelonek M., Kosmala A. (2022a). Scavenging of nitric oxide up-regulates photosynthesis under drought in Festuca arundinacea and F. glaucescens but reduces their drought tolerance. Scientific Reports 12: 6500 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-10299-5

Perlikowski D., Lechowicz K., Skirycz A., Michaelis A., Pawłowicz I., Kosmala A. (2022b). The role of triacylglycerol in the protection of cells against lipotoxicity under drought in Lolium multiflorum/Festuca arundinacea introgression form. Plant and Cell Physiology 63: 353-368 DOI: 10.1093/pcp/pcac003

Babula-Skowrońska D. (2021). Functional divergence of Brassica napus BnaABI1 paralogs in the structurally conserved PP2CA gene subfamily of Brassicaceae. Genomics 113: 3185-3197 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2021.06.031

Perlikowski D., Augustyniak A., Skirycz A., Pawłowicz I., Masajada K., Michaelis Ä., Kosmala A. (2020). Efficient root metabolism improves drought resistance of Festuca arundinacea. Plant and Cell Physiology 61: 492-504 DOI:10.1093/pcp/pcz215

Perlikowski D., Augustyniak A., Masajada K., Skirycz A., Soja A. M., Michaelis A., Wolter G., Kosmala A. (2019). Structural and metabolic alterations in root systems under limited water conditions in forage grasses of Lolium-Festuca complex. Plant Science 283: 211-223 DOI: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2019.02.001

Projects (finished recently or current)