Dr Magdalena Wołoszyńska from the faculty of biology and animal husbandry at the University of Life Sciences in Wrocław will carry out the research project “Regulation of Arabidopsis thaliana photomorphogenesis by Elongator – a protein complex epigenetically regulating gene expression”.

“To put it simply, it’s a complex that regulates gene expression, but does not change the DNA sequence, it only modifies chromatin. Such modifications can take place in various ways, and the complex works in such a way that it changes histones, which causes the chromatin looser and genes are more easily transcribed – explains the researcher.

In her research, for which she obtained a grant from the National Development Center, Dr Wołoszyńska will be modifying the Arabian thistle – a plant with a very small genome, which can be transformed relatively easily. The results of her work may be important in the future as a key to improve plant resistance to drought or low temperatures.