About Krystyna Oracz

“A scientist in his laboratory is not a mere technician: he is also a child confronting natural phenomena that impress him as though they were fairy tales.” – Marie Skłodowska-Curie

Actually, I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Physiology, WULS-SGGW (Poland), leading the SeedExplorerGroup and managing my projects funded by grants of the National Science Centre and the Foundation for Polish Science.

For the period of my scientific career I am fully aware about the important recent advances in seed biology. In my work I elucidate the molecular mechanisms of regulation of seed germination and dormancy, with a focus on the role of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and phytohormones. My results provided a novel ROS-mediated mechanism for seed dormancy alleviation and thereby opened a new field in seed biology research. This mechanism involves a change in proteome oxidation, resulting from an accumulation of ROS during after-ripening. Hence, ROS accumulation appears to be a key signal governing cell activity during after-ripening.

A major challenge of my recent projects and perhaps the most exciting aspects of the research performed in my research team is to elucidate:

- the role of transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression in light- dependent germination of dormant A. thaliana seeds;

- the protein turnover in seed-related processes (including regulation of translation and degradation of proteins).

- the role of light and elements of light signaling pathway in seed-dormancy release and germination.