Marcin Grzybowski

Research Interests

My research focuses on understanding the genetic and molecular mechanisms that allow crop plants to adapt to changing environmental conditions. I am particularly interested in how natural genetic variation influences gene regulation, metabolism, and physiological traits associated with stress tolerance.

Maize is the principal model system in my research, although some of my projects also include wheat and other cereal species. A major focus of my work is the response of plants to low temperatures and the adaptation of tropical-origin maize to temperate environments. I investigate how genetically diverse maize lines respond to chilling and cold stress at the levels of the transcriptome, gene regulation, photosynthesis, and the metabolome.

My research combines population genomics, quantitative genetics, and functional genomics. I use RNA sequencing, expression quantitative trait locus mapping, eQTL analyses, fine-mapping of regulatory variants, colocalization approaches, and statistical models that compare genetic effects across environmental conditions and genetic groups. I am also interested in how transcription factor binding motifs, and other cis-regulatory elements contribute to variation in stress responses.

Another important area of my research is the effect of domestication and modern breeding on the functional diversity of crop plants. I study signatures of selection, changes in the frequency of regulatory variants, and the evolution of gene expression and metabolite profiles across breeding populations and historical breeding periods. The aim is to identify the molecular mechanisms that have been modified during crop adaptation and improvement.

By integrating genomic, transcriptomic, epigenomic, metabolomic, and physiological data, I aim to identify genes and regulatory variants underlying plant resilience to environmental stress. This research contributes to a better understanding of cereal evolution and may support the development of crop varieties that are better adapted to changing climatic conditions.

Grants

In search for traces of convergent evolution at the metabolic level in maize and wheat in the course of artificial selection, 2024 – 2029, NCN OPUS (2024/53/B/NZ9/00597), PI Marcin Grzybowski

Identification loci responsible for maize adaptation to cold condition at early stages of development, 2024 – 2027, NCN OPUS (2023/49/B/NZ9/00766), PI Marcin Grzybowski

Papers

List of my papers can be found on Google Scholar.