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The heterochromatin proteome of flies

January 15, 2025

The heterochromatin proteome of flies

Pericentromeric heterochromatin clusters into nuclear foci or chromocenters, the proteome of which remains largely unknown. Ankita Chavan, Lena Skrutl, Madhav Jagannathan and colleagues characterize the chromocenter-associated proteome in multiple tissues and identify a link between satellite DNA-binding proteins and transposon repression in embryogenesis.


Image credit: pbio.3002984

PLOS Biologue

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PLOS BIOLOGUE

01/16/2025

Research Article

Insights on conscious visual perception

Conscious perception is influenced by brain oscillations and slow cortical potentials within the brain, but it is not clear if they influence perception via shared mechanisms. Lua Koenig and Biyu He show that oscillations and aperiodic brain activity influence conscious perception independent of each other.

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Insights on conscious visual perception

Recently Published Articles

Current Issue

Current Issue December 2024

01/14/2025

Research Article

How to avoid imminent danger

Worry is a key component of anxiety and is often characterized by imagination of a negative outcome. Olivia Calvin, David Redish and co-workers find that when a rat is attacked by a robot, hippocampal place fields develop to represent the robot, but when the rat shows anxiety-like behaviors, it imagines the robot's location, presumably worrying about the imminent danger.

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How to avoid imminent danger

01/14/2025

Research Article

Misfolded rhodopsin in retinitis pigmentosa

Retinitis pigmentosa is a blinding disease that is caused by pathogenic misfolding mutations in the rhodopsin protein. Joseph Ortega, Beata Jastrzebska and co-authors identify two compounds with favorable pharmacological properties that stabilize misfolded, ligand-free rod opsin and slow down photoreceptor degeneration in a mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa.

Image credit: pbio.3002932

Misfolded rhodopsin in retinitis pigmentosa

01/13/2025

Research Article

Am I safe?

Our brain estimates our safety based on external threats, but how does it integrate this with other information, including estimates about our ability to protect ourselves? Sarah Tashjian, Dean Mobbs and colleagues reveal the contribution of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex subregions to our sense of safety.

Am I safe?

Image credit: pbio.3002986

01/08/2025

Update Article

Dynamics of collateral antibiotic sensitivity

The evolution of antibiotic resistance often leads to collateral resistance or sensitivity to drugs not used in treatment. Jeff Maltas, Anh Huynh and Kevin Wood show that these collateral effects often fluctuate over evolutionary time, requiring precise timing and stochastic control models to optimize treatment strategies.

Dynamics of collateral antibiotic sensitivity

Image credit: pbio.3002970

01/07/2025

Methods and Resources

Measuring cell size and cell cycle phase

Current methods to study cell cycle progression in fission yeast overlook variations in cell size across different strains. Guillem Murciano-Julià, José Ayté and co-workers present FLCCR, an imaging reporter system that can quantify the duration of each cell cycle phase in single cells and allows the separation of cell size as an independent variable from cell cycle progression.

Measuring cell size and cell cycle phase

Image credit: pbio.3002969

01/15/2025

Perspective

Modeling malaria

When models are used to inform decision-making, both their strengths and limitations must be considered. Using malaria as an example, Jaline Gerardin and Melissa Penny explain how and why models are limited and offer guidance for a model to fulfil its purpose.

Modeling malaria

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata

01/15/2025

Perspective

How to improve reproducibility

‘‘Big data" from outsourced or centralized facilities often lacks methodological information. Daniel Sloan and Mark Stenglein outline how and why researchers, service providers, and other parties should report on methodology and sample metadata to improve scientific reproducibility.

How to improve reproducibility

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons Our World In Data

01/10/2025

Perspective

Did pentose lead in the origins of metabolism?

Steffen Lindner and Markus Ralser show that pentose utilization pathways form all life-essential precursors, speculating that the chemistry preserved in pentose metabolism could have been a central structural element in early metabolism.

Did pentose lead in the origins of metabolism?

Image credit: pbio.3002996

01/08/2025

Unsolved Mystery

Oligodendrocytes and Parkinson’s disease

This Unsolved Mystery discusses our limited understanding of the role of oligodendrocytes in Parkinson's disease, highlighting unresolved questions, including the aggregation of alpha-synuclein within oligodendrocytes.


Oligodendrocytes and Parkinson’s disease

Image credit: pbio.3002977

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PLOS Biology | ISSN: 1545-7885 (online)
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