06/18/2026
Research Article
Zebrafish can regenerate neurons after spinal cord injury, but the mechanisms influencing this ability remain unknown. Alberto Docampo-Seara, Catherina Becker, Thomas Becker and co-workers find that sema4ab, a protein expressed in lesion-reactive microglia, attenuates regenerative neurogenesis by directly regulating neural progenitors and altering cytokine signaling in the niche.
Image credit: pbio.3003865
Current Issue May 2026
06/18/2026
Short Reports
Understanding structural neuroplasticity in humans is challenging because in vivo methods rarely capture underlying cellular mechanisms driving learning-related brain changes. Guillermina Griffa, Susie Huang, Valeria Della-Maggiore and co-authors show that learning induces transient cell-body expansion and sustained increases in neurite density in motor regions, revealing temporal mechanisms of human structural plasticity.
Image credit: pbio.3003861
06/18/2026
Research Article
Adaptive potential determines how populations respond to environmental change. Lillith Zijmers, Adam Eyre-Walker and colleagues compile evolvability estimates from over 170 multicellular species, revealing substantial variation across the tree of life, with plants exhibiting significantly higher adaptive potential than animals.
Image credit: pbio.3003819
06/16/2026
Research Article
Crossover formation ensures accurate homologous chromosome segregation and depends on tightly regulated pro-crossover protein levels during meiotic prophase I. Hongtao Zhang, Wenqing Liang, Meng Li, Ye Hong and co-workers show that the ubiquitin-proteasome system restricts crossover number by orchestrating pro-crossover protein dynamics and ensuring their timely dissociation from chromatin.
Image credit: pbio.3003868
06/15/2026
Research Article
Aging is known to drive changes in the brain and metabolic health, but it is less clear to what extent these effects are separable. By analyzing two large-scale datasets, Asa Farahani, Bratislav Misic and co-authors identify two axes of brain-body associations that are driven primarily by age or metabolic health.
Image credit: pbio.3003856
06/15/2026
Research Article
Transcription elongation factors (TEFs) associate with RNA Polymerase II to regulate gene expression and coordinate chromatin regulation and RNA processing. Alex Francette, Aakash Grover, Nathan Clark and Karen Arndt present an evolutionary analysis of ten core TEFs, showing that all ten originated in the Last Eucaryotic Common Ancestor and display both conserved and lineage-specific domains.
Image credit: pbio.3003855
06/15/2026
Essay
Biogeography and ecology have long developed in parallel. This Essay explores how new data on species interactions across large scales now allow their integration, opening fresh insights into how biodiversity is shaped across Earth.
Image credit: pbio.3003813
06/10/2026
Community Page
Investigating the integrity of published papers is key to the scientific process, but the necessary knowledge is in short supply. This Community Page presents COSIG, an open collection of meta-scientific guides enabling anyone to perform forensic peer review.
Image credit: pbio.3003817
06/08/2026
Essay
Mutation rates per generation are strikingly consistent, suggesting a key role for natural selection in honing them. This Essay summarizes the patterns identified and outlines existing theories for how selection pressures might shape mutation rates in animal germline and soma.
Image credit: pbio.3003799
06/04/2026
Essay
Unified bacterial strain taxonomies are crucial. This Essay provides an overview of a novel bacterial strain taxonomy and describes how this system can be used in population biology and epidemiological surveillance of infectious diseases.
Image credit: pbio.3003781
Aging affects us all, but we still do not know how the process evolves or if we can modulate its pace. This issue of PLOS Biology presents a Collection of articles that explores different aspects of aging, discussing what challenges still need to be overcome.
This PLOS Biology collection aims to shine a light on the many facets of immunometabolism, highlighting how molecular and cellular mechanisms impact diverse tissue and organismal functions and the exciting potential for leveraging immunometabolism for therapeutic interventions.
Recent technological advancements in omics have unveiled the mechanisms governing tumor progression across spatial and temporal scales. This collection reveals the complexities of the crosstalk between cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment.
Neurotechnology offers unprecedented opportunities to treat neural disorders, restore brain function and enhance cognitive abilities. This collection explores the present and possible futures of neurotechnology to improve human health and cognition.
Translating conservation and biodiversity research from the field into the real world is a complex problem. This collection discusses issues around economics, policy, and how to do research that answers questions that decision makers have.
June 22 - 26
Meet Associate Editor Ankiit Ahluwalia (aahluwalia@plos.org).
June 28 - July 2
Meet Senior Editor Roli Roberts (rroberts@plos.org)
June 28 - July 3
Meet Senior Editor Melissa Vazquez Hernandez (mvazquezhernandez@plos.org)
June 30 - July 4
Meet Senior Editor Richard Hodge (rhodge@plos.org)
July 6 - 10
Meet Senior Editor Christian Schnell (cschnell@plos.org)
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