Studying plant DNA in a war zone

NSF IMPRESS-U logo. Image courtesy: NSF

As Ukraine struggles to maintain its independence, its citizens are likewise struggling to maintain their lives and livelihoods.

A unique research initiative led by the U.S. National Science Foundation, together with funding organizations from five European countries, is designed to address this struggle, providing support for Ukrainian scientists and drawing them into the international research community.

Now, a University of Michigan researcher has won a grant for $199,998 funded by the initiative, called International Multilateral Partnerships for Resilient Education and Science System in Ukraine, or IMPRESS-U.

[Link]Andrzej Wierzbicki

Andrzej Wierzbicki, a U-M professor of cellular, molecular and developmental biology, is leading the project, which will explore how DNA is organized within plant chloroplasts. He is partnering with Ukrainian scientist Mykhailo Tukalo of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Marcin Nowotny of the International Institute of Molecular Cell Biology in Warsaw, Poland. Tukalo and Nowotny's institutions will each receive about $200,000 in funding as well.

Plant chloroplasts are small, green organelles responsible for photosynthesis and found within all plant leaves. Like mitochondria, chloroplasts have an endosymbiotic origin: they are remnants of organisms that used to live within other cells and perform biological functions for the host organism. Approximately 1.5 billion years ago, a cyanobacterium, a bacteria that performs photosynthesis, got incorporated into a cell, which became an ancestor for all plants we know today. This incorporation allowed plants to evolve the ability to perform photosynthesis.

[Link]Marcin Nowotny

Because chloroplasts are endosymbiotic, they have their own genomes, or complete set of DNA. But very little is known about how chloroplast DNA is organized.

"Packaging and organizing DNA in space is surprisingly important. In the nucleus, it makes a lot of important decisions about which genes are turned on and off," Wierzbicki said. "In this project, we are interested in proteins that bind to chloroplast DNA and help organize DNA. These proteins are really mysterious. There are some candidates, but what they do and how they do it, nobody really knows."

Wierzbicki enlisted the help of Tukalo and Nowotny, scientists who are experts in investigating the interactions between DNA and proteins. Tukalo's group studies protein biochemistry, structural bioinformatics and protein crystallography, focusing in particular on nucleic acid-binding proteins. Nowotny uses protein crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy to study the mechanisms of processing nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) by proteins.

"For a biochemist like me, when we venture into new areas, it is important to work with experts who know very well the biological context of the subject, and working with Andrzej is such an opportunity," Nowotny said. "We will be able to create a synergy between understanding a biological process at the level of single atoms (our work on protein structures) and the whole organism (Andrzej's work)."

To win the grant, the researchers had to demonstrate that the project would fulfill three criteria: to ensure the project's resiliency, to create an internationally engaged workforce in Ukraine, and to contribute to a state-of-the-art research ecosystem in Ukraine.

Because of Russia's targeted attacks on Ukraine's critical infrastructure, Kiev and other cities regularly experience electrical blackouts. Men aged 18 to 60 are not allowed to leave the country, and can be drafted for military service at any time. Additionally, international travel to the country is limited and challenging. The researchers planned around this by establishing flexible goals and ensuring the research group in Warsaw could continue work that might become interrupted in Ukraine.

The scientists designed their project so that as much of the work as possible could be done locally in Ukraine. But whatever cannot be conducted in Ukraine will be accomplished with short-term visits to Warsaw and U-M, where Ukrainian scientists can learn microscopy techniques they can then take back with them to Ukraine. These methods are largely absent or insufficiently represented in the work of scientists in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian scientist Tukalo.

"This particularly concerns the strengthening of research in the field of molecular biology of plants, which is vital for the development in Ukraine of its agro-industrial sector," Tukalo said. "This IMPRESS-U project will help us create an internationally trained workforce by providing extensive training opportunities for scientists in our institute and focusing on the effective transfer of expertise to Ukrainian research institutions while minimizing brain drain."

For Wierzbicki, who grew up in Poland and whose family still resides there, the grant allows him to show support for his colleagues in eastern Europe.

"Having an opportunity to do something within my area of expertise that helps feels really great, and I'm excited that we'll be able to help our Ukrainian partners. Ukraine has some really big strengths in research, and I think we are lucky that we have partners who are really strong, really experienced scientists," Wierzbicki said. "We're not going to change things overnight. We're not going to win the war for them. We're not going to make all junior scientists have excellent careers in research. But whatever we can do I think will provide some improvement, some opportunities."

In addition to the NSF, IMPRESS-U funding is provided by the Estonian Research Council, Latvian Council of Science, Research Council of Lithuania, Plant's National Science Centre, Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange, National Research Foundation of Ukraine, U.S. Office of Naval Research, and U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, as well as private donors and foundations.

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