Further grants for UPWr

Researchers from UPWr have obtained grants from the Sonatina 3, Sonata 14 and Miniatura 3 programs for a total amount of almost 3 million PLN. Sandra Rychel-Bielska PhD, until recently associated with the Institute of Plant Genetics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Poznań, will get  1,394,071 PLN from the Sonatina 3 program – in her research she will deal with white lupine and the possibilities of creating new varieties of this protein-rich plant, adapted to Polish climatic conditions. Marta Preisner PhD, who will also work on plants, has been awarded 1,414,700 PLN. She will analyse the impact of electromagnetic field. In humans it affects the expression of some genes, and Preisner wants to see if and in what form a similar mechanism exists in plants. Two grants from the Miniatura 3 program have been received by Jarosław Suchański PhD - 49,324 PLN and Dr hab. Wojciech Łaba – 46,200 PLN. The research of Jarosław Suchański concerns the possibilities of increasing the effectiveness of breast cancer treatment, and of Wojciech Łaba – the extraction of bioactive substances from brewer’s spent grain.

White lupine is the future

White lupine is a plant used as a fertilizer, feed ingredient, but also a valuable element of a balanced human diet. Lupine seeds contain up to 45 percent protein and 13 percent oils, mainly unsaturated fatty acids. It is an excellent alternative to soya, over which it has an advantage of better adaptability to Polish climate conditions. It is also a plant which does not require nitrogen fertilizer supply, and, better still – it itself increases the content of organic substances in the soil, stimulating the development of soil flora and fauna. In Europe, up to 70 percent of protein demand is met by soy imports. White lupine could therefore be a good alternative for it.

- What limits the possibilities of its cultivation in our country is its vulnerability to diseases such as brown stem rot and anthracnose and too late flowering and maturation of plants. This second aspect is important due to the growing season and increasingly common droughts - says Sandra Rychel-Bielska PhD, who will implement the research project as part of the Sonatina 3 competition.

Its purpose is to determine the molecular basis for regulating the induction process of white lupine flowering and to identify the main genes involved in this process.

- We will check this by understanding the profile of expression of key genes involved in the integration of flowering induction pathways associated with photoperiod and response to vernalization, i.e. the length of the day and response to low temperatures immediately after sowing seeds - explains Rychel-Bielska, a specialist in plant genetics. And she adds that deciphering the flower induction mechanism of this species has become one of the most interesting challenges of legume genetics and can be a milestone and a basis for further research aimed at selecting genotypes to create new varieties of white lupine better suited to our climate.

Electromagnetic field and flax

The electromagnetic field (EMF) is a factor found in the environment and has an impact on the growth and development of living organisms. A particularly important subject of research is the very low-frequency electromagnetic field (ELF-EMF), because in everyday life it occurs around all electrical and electronic devices or power lines. Crops growing near electricity transmission systems or overhead contact lines are permanently exposed to ELF-EMF.

- There are reports in the literature about the negative effects of electromagnetic fields on plant growth and development. Therefore, I decided that research in this area is justified. What's more, the results obtained so far mainly describe the impact of EMF on plant growth, development and physiology, but the mechanism of the electromagnetic field impact on plants remains unexplained - explains Marta Preisner PhD from the Department of Genetics, Plant Breeding and Seed Production.

According to Preisner, her team's preliminary research showed that impacting flax with ELF-EMF caused tremendous changes in gene expression (4778 genes had significantly increased expression, while 10178 genes showed reduced expression). The largest group of genes that were susceptible to electromagnetic field effects were genes involved in overall plant metabolism. – Our research will allow us to understand better the regulation of gene expression in plants and gain better knowledge of potential modulators of plant growth and development – emphasizes Marta Preisner.

Protein against cancer

Jarosław Suchański PhD from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology will, within the Miniatura 3 program, study the role of two proteins (galactosylceramide GALC and prosaposin PSAP) in the resistance of breast cancer cells to chemotherapy with doxorubicin.

- Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women in developed countries, which is why it is so important to discover the factors that determine cell resistance to cytostatic agents. We know that cancer cells often have disorders in lipid metabolism, which changes the dynamics of their cell membrane and thus the interaction of signal molecules and receptors involved in the regulation of apoptosis, i.e. cell death. In our studies, the process of galactosylceramide (GalCer) degradation is important, as it can be directly involved not only in the progression of breast cancer to a more malignant phenotype, but can also play an important role in resistance to chemotherapy in patients who have elevated levels of this glycolipid - explains Suchański, who will test the hypothesis whether inhibition of key proteins involved in the decomposition of GalCer, i.e. GALC and PSAP, will lead to the accumulation of this glycolipid in the cell membrane in the form of the so-called lipid rafts, which in turn will increase cell resistance to apoptosis caused by stressors.

- The implemented project will also answer the question which of the processes – synthesis or degradation of GalCer – plays a dominant role in the accumulation of this compound in the membrane of cancer cells. There is one goal: to increase the effectiveness of breast cancer treatment – adds Dr. Jarosław Suchański.

On average, approximately 1.5 million new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed worldwide each year. It is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in the world after lung cancer (it accounts for 11.9% of all cancers). It occupies the fifth place on the list of deaths due to cancer in general and is the most common cause of death among the inhabitants of less developed regions, and the second cause of death, after lung cancer, of women in more developed regions of the world. It is also the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the second death-causing cancer among Polish women.

How to use the brewer’s spent grain?

Brewer's spent grain is a by-product formed during the production of beer wort. And at the same time it is a very valuable product due to the high content of protein and phenolic acids. The annual spent grain output exceeds 30 million tons.

- And what is important, the potential is not fully utilized, because the spent grain is most often used in feeding livestock. And we want to check, first of all in the laboratory, whether brewer’s grain can be a source of biologically active peptides – says Dr hab. Wojciech Łaba from the Department of Biotechnology and Food Microbiology.

The project, which will receive 46,200 PLN from the Miniatura 3 competition, is aimed at examining whether hydrolysis of brewer’s grain proteins in cultures of selected proteolytic bacteria would enable us to obtain bioactive peptides.

- Until now, enzyme preparations available on the market have been used for this purpose, which obviously increased the costs of the entire process. Hydrolysis carried out in bacterial culture conditions would reduce costs, but also allow the simultaneous operation of several proteolytic enzymes, which in turn would allow us to obtain a high degree of protein hydrolysis - explains Wojciech Łaba.