Plant Biotechnology Team

Leader

prof. dr hab. Tomasz Pniewski

Members

dr hab. Katarzyna Głowacka

dr inż. Joanna Cerazy-Waliszewska

dr Karolina Sobańska

mgr Hanna Pudelska

Katarzyna Beczek

mgr inż. Martyna Przewoźnik (PhD Student)

mgr inż. Estera Wojtkowiak (PhD Student)

From left to right: J. Cerazy-Waliszewska, M. Przewoźnik, E. Wojtkowiak, T. Pniewski, K. Beczek, H. Pudelska, K. Sobańska

Research profile

The aim of team’s research is to use biotechnological methods together with natural plant traits for utilitarian purposes. The research are conducted in two fields of plant biotechnology: biopharming and the use of giant grasses of Miscanthus genus for bioenergy and phytoremediation. The first one includes production of antigenic proteins assembled into Virus-Like Particles (VLPs) in plant expression systems and their use as vaccines and epitope and nanoparticle carriers. The second area involves the determination of biological mechanisms responsible for Miscanthus tolerance to abiotic stresses such as cold and arsenic soil contamination. It also investigates their effects on biomass production. These mechanisms, along with supporting biotechnological methods, are being explored to enhance the production of bioethanol, other biofuels and bioproducts and soil phytoremediation.

We use methods common for both research fields as tissue cultures and statistical analysis together with bioinformatics as well as specific methods. Production and processing of VLPs includes: DNA recombination, plant transformation using Agrobacterium tumefaciens and biolistic method, plant in vitro regeneration, transient expression, transgene detection, protein assay/detection using ELISA and western blot, protein purification or plant tissue lyophilisation and finally analysis of elements of immune response. Complex studies of Miscanthus reaction to stresses are performed using spectrum of methods: gene transcription using qPCR and whole transcriptome analysis, enzyme activity assay, measurements of photosynthesis and other physiological processes, biochemical and metabolic analyses, micropropagation and phenotyping, bioethanol production.

Our main achievements in biopharming are: production of VLPs assembled by HBcAg and S-HBsAg (core and small surface antigens of Hepatitis B Virus) in plant expression systems, development of basics of processing of plant material to obtain vaccine preparations, determination of conditions of effective injection-oral immunization using plant-derived vaccines.

Studies in the area of Miscanthus exploitation for bioenergy/phytoremediation resulted so far in: development of effective regeneration and biolistic transformation system, determination of Miscanthus as a feedstock for bioethanol production, recognition of fundamental mechanisms of cold tolerance of Miscanthus and its effects for cell wall reconstruction, determination of basics of arsenic tolerance, effects of the stresses for biomass quantity/quality and bioethanol production. 

Key words

genetic engineering, tissue cultures, plant transformation, transient expression, biopharming, plant-based vaccines, virus-like particles, Miscanthus, bioenergy, bioethanol, cold stress, cell wall, arsenic tolerance, phytoremediation

Selected recent publications (See all in SCOPUS)

Kaczmarek D.K., Pacholak A., Burlaga N., Wojcieszak M., Materna K., Kruszka D., Dąbrowski P., Sobańska K., Kaczorek E. (2023) Dicationic Ionic Liquids with an Indole-3-butyrate Anion – Plant Growth Stimulation and Ecotoxicological Evaluations. ACS Sustainable Chemistry Engineering. 11: 13282–13297. DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c02286

Sobańska K., Jedryszek P., Kern C., Basińska-Barczak A., Pniewski T., Long S.P. (2023) An efficient indirect plant regeneration from shoot apical meristem (SAM) derived embryogenic callus of Miscanthus × giganteus. Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology. 47: 102576: DOI: 10.1016/j.bcab.2022.102576

Ortega-Berlanga B., Pniewski T. (2022) Plant-Based Vaccines in Combat against Coronavirus Diseases. Vaccines 10: 138. DOI 10.3390/vaccines10020138

Sahay S., Robledo-Arratia L., Glowacka K., Gupta M. (2021) Root NRT, NiR, AMT, GS, GOGAT and GDH expression levels reveal NO and ABA mediated drought tolerance in Brassica juncea L. Scientific Reports 11: 7992. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-86401-0.

Mitros T., Session A.M., James B.T., Wu G.A., Belaffif M.B., Clark L.V., Shu S., Dong H., Barling A., Holmes J.R., Mattick J.E., Bredeson J.V., Liu S., Farrar K., Głowacka K., Jeżowski S., Barry K, Chae W.B., Juvik J.A., Gifford J., Oladeinde A., Yamada T., Grimwood J., Putnam N.H., De Vega J., Barth S., Klaas M., Hodkinson T., Li L.R, Jin X. (2020) Genome biology of the paleotetraploid perennial biomass crop Miscanthus. Nature Communications 11: 5442. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18923-6.

Kromdijk J., Głowacka K., Long S. P. (2020) Unaffected photosynthetic efficiency and mesophyll conductance in Arabidopsis thaliana aquaporin knock-out lines. Journal of Experimental Botany 71 (1): 318–329. DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erz442.

Doczekalska B., Bartkowiak M., Waliszewska B., Orszulak G., Cerazy-Waliszewska J., Pniewski T. (2020) Characterization of chemically activated carbons prepared from miscanthus and switchgrass biomass. Materials 13: 1654. DOI: 10.3390/ma13071654.

Cerazy-Waliszewska J., Jeżowski S., Łysakowski P., Waliszewska B., Zborowska M., Sobańska K., Ślusarkiewicz-Jarzina A., Białas W., Pniewski T. (2019) Potential of bioethanol production from biomass of various Miscanthus genotypes cultivated in three-year plantations in west-central Poland. Industrial Crops & Products 141: 111790. DOI: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2019.111790.

Pyrski M., Mieloch A.A., Plewiński A., Basińska-Barczak A., Gryciuk A., Bociąg P., Murias M., Rybka J.D., Pniewski T. (2019) Parenteral–Oral Immunization with Plant-Derived HBcAg as a Potential Therapeutic Vaccine against Chronic Hepatitis B. Vaccines 7: 211. DOI: 10.3390/vaccines7040211.

Rybka J.D., Mieloch A.A., Plis A., Pyrski M., Pniewski T., Giersig M. (2019) Assembly and characterization of HBc derived Virus-like Particles with magnetic core. Nanomaterials 9: E155. DOI: 10.3390/nano9020155

Sobańska K., Cerazy-Waliszewska J., Kowalska M., Rakoczy M., Podkowiński J., Ślusarkiewicz-Jarzina A., Ponitka A., Jeżowski S., Pniewski T. (2019) Optimised expression cassettes of hpt marker gene for biolistic transformation of Miscanthus sacchariflorus. Biomass and Bioenergy 127: 105255. DOI: 10.1016/j.biombioe.2019.105255

Pniewski T., Milczarek M., Wojas-Turek J., Pajtasz-Piasecka J., Wietrzyk J., Czyż M. (2018) Plant lyophilisate carrying S-HBsAg as an oral booster vaccine against HBV. Vaccine 36: 6070-6076. DOI:10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.09.006

Projects (finished recently or current)