Profile
Karolina Pajerowska-Mukhtar
Biological Sciences
Dept Chair/Head
Professor of Biological Sciences
864-656-1112
Jordan Hall 221 [Research Laboratory Service]
Long Hall 132C [Office]
Educational Background
BS/MS, Biology (Environmental Protection and Laboratory Diagnostics), University of Szczecin, Poland, 2001
PhD, Genetics, Max-Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, 2005
Postdoctoral, Plant Immunity, Duke University, 2006-2010
Profile/About Me
Dr. Karolina Mukhtar is a broadly trained molecular plant biologist with over twenty years of experience studying various aspects of plant genetics and stress biology using genetic and biochemical approaches.
Research Interests
The research in my laboratory is focused on molecular mechanisms of cellular stress including Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. UPR is an evolutionarily conserved cellular stress response in all eukaryotes including humans, yeast, and plants that activates upon the accumulation of unfolded or misfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) resulting from biotic/abiotic stresses. Initially, UPR transduces signals to reinstate ER homeostasis. However, prolonged or acute ER stress may lead to a transition that initiates programmed cell death.
While the actions of UPR in plants are almost unknown, for the past 17+ years I have taken a leading and pioneering role to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms of plant UPR in responses to diverse abiotic (heat, drought) and biotic (bacteria, viruses) stress factors. My laboratory is discovering the differences between the animal and plant UPR responses that make it a unique adaptive process in plant stress biology. Our primary objective is to identify how the key ER stress sensor IRE1 kinase/endonuclease is mechanistically involved during plant UPR. We are working on the identification of additional regulatory factors required for both the activation and the attenuation of the ER stress response, and studying the molecular signal transduction pathways that enable cells to activate the stress-adaptive (pro-survival) or apoptotic (pro-death) signaling pathways under mild or acute ER stress conditions, respectively. This work has been supported by the NSF-CAREER and a subsequent NSF-ROA award since 2014 and was the basis of my 2019 PECASE award.
Another recent expansion of my research program focuses on the area of artificial intelligence and machine learning as tools to predict the novel stress and immune functions of previously unknown proteins This new scientific endeavor has resulted in a 2021 NSF award as a Co-Principal Investigator. The new undertaking employs my expertise in the wet lab characterization of various plant stress responses as we discover the next frontier in the –omics of global regulation of stress responses in plants with a special emphasis on the biological roles of Sulphur and nutritional immunity. Collectively, plant stress biology research has a profound impact on our future ability to solve real-life problems as we face ongoing changes in the climate, ecological imbalances, and the ever-growing human population.
Selected Publications
Mohan B, Thingujam D, Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM, Mukhtar SM (2024). EccDNA in plant-stress and biotechnological solutions in agriculture. Trends in Biotechnology, doi https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2024.05.008
Thingujam D, Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM, Mukhtar SM (2024) Duckweed: beyond an efficient plant model system. Biomolecules, 14(6):628, https://doi.org/10.3390/biom14060628
Adhikari B, Gayral M, Herath V, Bedsole O, Kumar S, Ball H, Atallah O, Shaw B, Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM, Verchot J (2024) bZIP60 and Bax inhibitor 1 contribute IRE1-dependent and independent roles involved in PlAMV infection. New Phytologist, https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.19882
Bedgood RM, Almehmi SE, Chandran KB, Wyss JM, Mukhtar MS, Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM (2024). PlantGIFT: An effective teacher workshop model for translating experimental STEM research into hands-on classroom activities for middle and high school students. Journal of College Science Teaching, in press. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4683990
Fakhar AZ, Liu J, Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM and Mukhtar MS (2023) The ORFans’ Tale: New Insights in Plant Biology. Trends in Plant Science, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2023.06.011.
Fakhar AZ, Liu J, Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM, Mukhtar MS (2023) The Lost and Found: Unraveling the Functions of Orphan Genes. Journal of Developmental Biology, 11(2):27, https://doi.org/10.3390/jdb11020027.
Fakhar AZ, Liu J, Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM (2023) Dynamic Enrichment for Evaluation of Protein Networks (DEEPN): A High Throughput Yeast Two-Hybrid (Y2H) Protocol to Evaluate Networks (book chapter). Protein-Protein Interactions: Methods and Protocols, Springer Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 2690, pp. 179-192
Diwan D, Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM (2023) Preparation and Utilization of a Versatile GFP-Protein Trap-Like System for Protein Complex Immunoprecipitation in Plants (book chapter). Protein-Protein Interactions: Methods and Protocols, Springer Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 2690, pp. 59-68
Mohan B, Thingujam D, Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM (2023) Cytotrap: An Innovative Approach for Protein–Protein Interaction Studies for Cytoplasmic Proteins (book chapter). Protein-Protein Interactions: Methods and Protocols, Springer Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 2690, pp. 9-22
Kumar N, Mishra B, Liu J, Mohan B, Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM, Mukhtar SM (2023) Network Biology Analyses and Dynamic Modeling of Gene Regulatory Networks Under Drought Stress Reveal Major Transcriptional Regulators in Arabidopsis. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24087349.
Stewart JA, Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM, Bulger A, Kambiranda D, Nyochembeng L and Mentreddy SR (2023) A Review: Muscadine, Resveratrol (RSV) and the Stilbene Synthase (STS) Genes that Control their Stress Responses. ACS Food Science & Technology, 3(1):3–14, https://doi.org/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.2c00176
Hussain A, Liu J, Mohan B, Burhan A, Nasim Z, Bano R, Ameen A, Zaynab M, Mukhtar MS and Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM (2022) A genome-wide comparative evolutionary analysis of zinc finger-BED transcription factor genes in land plants. Scientific Reports, 12:12328, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-16602-8.
Ilyas N, Akhtar N, Naseem A, Qureshi R, Majeed A, Al-Ansari MM, Al-Humaid L, Sayyed RZ, Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM (2022) The Potential of Bacillus subtilis and Phosphorus in Improving the Growth of Wheat under Chromium Stress. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 133:3307–3321, https://doi.org/10.1111/jam.15676.
Liu J, Fakhar AZ, Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM and Mukhtar MS (2022) A TIReless battle: TIR domains in plant-pathogen interactions. Trends in Plant Science, 27(5):426-429, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2022.01.011.
Afrin T, Costello CN, Monella AN, Kørner CJ and Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM (2022) The interplay of GTP-binding protein AGB1 with ER stress sensors IRE1a and IRE1b modulates Arabidopsis unfolded protein response and bacterial immunity. Plant Signaling and Behavior, 17:1, 2018857, https://doi.org/10.1080/15592324.2021.2018857.
Mishra B, Kumar N, Liu J, Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM (2021) Dynamic regulatory event mining by iDREM in large scale multi-omics datasets during biotic and abiotic stress in plants (book chapter). Modeling Transcriptional Regulation: Methods and Protocols, Springer Methods in Molecular Biology, 2328:191-202, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1534-8_12
Diwan D, Liu X, Andrews CF and Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM (2021) A Quantitative Arabidopsis IRE1a Ribonuclease-dependent in vitro mRNA Cleavage Assay for Functional Studies of Substrate Splicing and Decay Activities. Frontiers in Plant Science – Plant Cell Biology, 12:1510. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.707378
Davis JE, Kolozsvary MB, Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM, Zhang B (2021) Towards a universal theoretical framework to understand robustness and resilience: from cells to systems. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution – Models in Ecology and Evolution, 8:495. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.579098
Verchot J and Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM (2021) Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Signaling at the Nexus of Plant Viral, Bacterial, and Fungal Defenses. Curr Opinion in Virology, 47:9-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coviro.2020.11.001
Afrin T, Seok M, Terry B, Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM (2020) Probing natural variation of IRE1 expression and endoplasmic reticulum stress responses in Arabidopsis accessions. Scientific Reports, 10:19154 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-76114-1
Parry G, Provart JN, Brady SM, Uzilday B, The Multinational Arabidopsis Steering Committee (2020) Current status of the multinational Arabidopsis community. Plant Direct 00:1–9. https://doi.org/10.1002/pld3.248
Afrin T, Diwan D, Sahawneh K, Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM (2020) Multilevel Regulation of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Responses in Plants: Where Old Roads and New Paths Meet. Journal of Experimental Botany, 71(5):1659-1667. https://10.1093/jxb/erz487
Liu X, Afrin T, Pajerowska-Mukhtar KM (2019) Arabidopsis GCN2 kinase contributes to ABA homeostasis and stomatal immunity. Communications Biology 2:302 https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-019-0544-x
Honors and Awards
2022 UAB Graduate Dean's Award for Excellence in Mentorship
2021-2022 UAB Blaze Leadership Academy
2019 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)
2019 UAB President's Award for Excellence in Teaching
2019 UAB CAS Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching
2019 Academic Mace Carrier, UAB Fall Graduate Commencement
2018 American Society of Plant Biologists Faculty Travel Award
2015 UAB Disability Support Services Outstanding Faculty Award
2015 UAB Red Mountain Sustainability Award
2014 NSF-CAREER Award
2013 UAB Fellowship in Service Learning / Engaged Scholarship
2012 The North American Arabidopsis Steering Committee Early Career Scientist Award
2012 American Society of Plant Biologists Women Young Investigator Award
2011 UAB Faculty Development Grant Award
2006-2007 The Hargitt Postdoctoral Fellowship, Duke University
2006 Nomination for the Otto-Hahn-Medaille (Max Planck Society, Germany)
2002-2005 International Max-Planck Research School (IMPRS) Ph.D. fellowship
2002 The Nencki Foundation of Molecular and Cell Biology UNESCO/Polish Academy of Sciences scholarship
