Chair of Plant Physiology

Research area:

• Molecular biosystematics – research on biological diversity and evolutionary relationships carried out on mosses (genus Racomitrium) and on higher plants (genus Viola) using molecular data, such as DNA, RNA, and protein sequences. It employs techniques like DNA sequencing, phylogenetic analysis, and molecular markers to classify organisms and infer their evolutionary history. It enhances traditional taxonomy by providing objective, quantifiable genetic information that helps resolve ambiguities in species identification and classification. Molecular biosystematics is widely used in conservation biology, ecology, and evolutionary research to understand genetic variation, speciation, and biodiversity patterns.

• Research on stress factors in plants – helps to understand how environmental and biotic stress, such as drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, and pathogens, affects plant growth and development. It explores physiological responses like changes in photosynthesis, water uptake, hormone regulation, and gene expression to understand plant adaptation and resilience mechanisms. Molecular, biochemical, and ecological approaches are used to identify stress-tolerance traits and improve plant resistance. This research is crucial for agriculture and ecosystem sustainability, helping to develop stress-resistant plant varieties and mitigate the effects of climate change on food production.

Keywords: phylogenetics, molecular markers, taxonomy, speciation, genetic variation, abiotic stress, drought resistance, plant physiology, photosynthesis, oxidative stress

Contact person: dr Grzegorz Migdałek grzegorz.migdalek@uken.krakow.pl

• Research topic concern the course of basic physiological processes in plants (photosynthesis, respiration, chlorophyll fluorescence, transpiration), concentration chlorophyll, antocyanins. Reactions of plants, mainly mosses (Polytrichum piliferum, Mnium undulatum), as well as ferns (Platycerium bifurcatum), and vascular plants (Oxalis acetosella, O. corniculata) on abiotic stress factors (excess and deficiency of solar radiation, hypoxia, anoxia, excess heavy metals, herbicides, salinity, changes in carbon dioxide concentration, drought stress, and low temperature).

Keywords: abiotic stress, gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, mosses

Contact persons: dr hab. Andrzej Rzepka prof. UKEN andrzej.rzepka@uken.krakow.pl, dr Grzegorz Rut grzegorz.rut@uken.krakow.pl

• Susceptibility of the low-allergenicity wheat line wasko.gl- to Fusarium culmorum infection. Effect of vernalization duration on the germination of the low-allergenicity wheat line wasko.gl-. The impact of selected abiotic stress factors on the growth and yield of various triticale lines. Characterization of birch pollen form Iceland (Betula pubescens, Betula nana) and an attempt to assess their potential allergenic properties.

Keywords: wheat, gluten proteins, allergenicity, birch pollen, biotic and abiotic stress factors

Contact person: dr Iwona Stawoska iwona.stawoska@uken.krakow.pl

• Antibacterial activity of novel synthesized heterocyclic derivatives and plant extracts. The influence of irradiation with light of a specific wavelength on the enhancement of the antibacterial effect.

Keywords: microbiology, antibacterial activity of tested compounds

Contact persons: dr hab. Magdalena Greczek-Stachura prof. UKEN magdalena.greczek-stachura@uken.krakow.pl; dr Agnieszka Kania agnieszka.kania@uken.krakow.pl

• Synthesis of five – and six-membered heterocyclic systems containing a 2-sulfanylidene-1,3-thiazolidine-4-one (rhodanine) core and 1,4,6-trisubstituted 2[1H]-pyrimidinethiones with potential antimicrobial and antiparasitic activity. Synthesis of selenium analogues of the obtained rhodanine and 2[1H]-pyrimidinethione derivatives. Growing single crystals suitable for X-ray crystal structure measurement.

Keywords: organic synthesis, heterocyclic compounds, crystal structure

Contact persons: dr hab. Waldemar Tejchman prof. UKEN waldemar.tejchman@uken.krakow.pl; dr hab. Ewa Żesławska prof. UKEN ewa.zeslawska@uken.krakow.pl

Research equipment:

Spectrophotometer (Epoch, BioTech,Winooski, VT, USA), densitometer (DEN-1 Mc Farland Densitometer), laminar, laboratory incubator, autoclave, electronic scales, shaker, thermoblock, thermoshaker, water bath, diode illuminators, UV-Vis spectrophotometer (Analytic Jena, Germany), sonicator, Bead mill, thermocycler, thermomixer, laminar flow cabinet class II, spectrophotometer, transluminator with camera, horizontal and vertical electrophoresis sets, fluorescence camera, infrared gas analyzer, portable fluorimeter, portable photosynthesis system CIRAS 2, Clark electrode, spectrophotometry, FluorCam, phytotron chamber (Angelantoni Life Science), Handy-PEA fluorometer (Hansatech Instruments, Narborough, UK), Dualex scientific + instrument (METOS® by Pessl Instruments, Weiz, Austria), LI-1800 spectroradiometer (Li-Cor, Lincoln, NE, USA), Nicolet NXR 9650 Fourier-Transform Raman spectrometer (Thermo Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) – Chemistry Department UJ

Head:

Assoc. Prof. Ewa Żesławska, PhD

Podchorążych 2 St., room 331N

tel. +48 12 662 7882

e-mail: ewa.zeslawska@uken.krakow.pl

Research and teaching