02/28/2025
Short Reports
Supergenes can evolve when recombination-suppressing mechanisms like inversions promote co-inheritance of alleles at two or more polymorphic loci that affect a complex trait. A study of the BC supergene in wing color morphs of the butterfly Danaus chrysippus, by Rishi De-Kayne, Simon Martin and colleagues, reveals dynamic evolution of supergene haplotypes, fueled by incomplete recombination suppression.
Image credit: pbio.3003043
Current Issue February 2025
02/26/2025
Primer
The evolutionary origin of the lubricated joints that allow our interconnected skeleton to swivel, rotate, and bend has remained a mystery. Gage Crump explores a new comparative study of joints which points to lubricated joints arising in the earliest jawed vertebrates.
Image credit: pbio.3003044
02/21/2025
Research Article
Caspase enzymes are traditionally known for their roles in late stages of apoptosis, but growing evidence supports their function in non-apoptotic cellular processes. Gayathri Samarasekera, Sharon Gorski and colleagues show that caspase-3 and caspase-7 promote cytoprotective autophagy in response to non-lethal stress by modulating PARP1 activity in breast cancer cells.
Image credit: pbio.3003034
02/21/2025
Research Article
ZBP1 is known to initiate RIPK3-mediated necroptosis in murine models of viral infection, but how is this pathway regulated in human cells? Oluwamuyiwa Amusan, Shuqi Wang, Hongyan Guo and co-workers show that, unlike in the mouse, RIPK1 is required for HSV-induced ZBP1-dependent necroptosis in human cells.
Image credit: pbio.3002845
02/19/2025
Primer
Neurodevelopment requires dynamic control of synapse number. Yung-Heng Chang and Josh Dubnau explore a new study which reveals that the gag protein of Copia, an active retrotransposon, forms virus-like capsids that transfer its own RNA across the Drosophila neuromuscular junction to regulate synapse formation.
Image credit: pbio.3003032
02/18/2025
Research Article
Gap junctions allow transfer of small molecules between cells, but it is unclear if cells can use this process to promote cell growth. Caroline Vachias, Vincent Mirouse and co-authors show that gap junctions allow the exchange of metabolites between germ cells and somatic cells to promote germline growth during Drosophila oogenesis.
Image credit: pbio.3003045
02/28/2025
Perspective
A major challenge in natural-product-based drug discovery is the identification of gene clusters most likely to specify new chemistry and bioactivities. This Perspective discusses the state of the art of antibiotic discovery.
Image credit: pbio.3001026
02/28/2025
Essay
Current treatments for Alzheimer's disease are hampered by limited efficacy, side effects and high costs. This Essay highlights non-invasive sensory stimulation as a promising emerging treatment.
Image credit: pbio.3003046
02/21/2025
BLOG POST
We at PLOS believe that for science to maximally benefit society and inform policy, its core principles—integrity, transparency, inclusivity, and collaboration—must be upheld.
Image credit: PLOS
02/14/2025
Community Page
GitHub, widely used in software development, offers a robust framework for documenting laboratory research projects. This Community Page article explores how to incorporate the GitHub ecosystem into ‘wet’ lab workflows.
Image credit: pbio.3003029
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.
Symbiosis research has become a holistic and pervasive field with a mature theoretical basis. This collection showcases symbiotic relationships across the tree of life, exploring their evolutionary basis and underlying mechanisms.
PLOS Biology is 20 and we are celebrating with a collection that contains articles that look back at landmark studies that we published, others that look past and future, and others discussing how publishing and open science have evolved and what is to come.
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This collection explores engineering strategies to help us adapt plants to a changing climate, including breeding techniques, genome engineering, synthetic biology and microbiome engineering.
March 4 - 7
Meet Associate Editor Melissa Vazquez Hernandez (mvazquezhernandez@plos.org)
March 12 - 14
Meet Editor in Chief Nonia Pariente (npariente@plos.org)
March 12 - 16
Meet Senior Editor Ines Alvarez-Garcia (ialvarez-garcia@plos.org)
March 23 - 26
Meet Senior Editor Richard Hodge (rhodge@plos.org)
March 24 - 27
Meet Senior Magazine Editor Daniel Routledge (droutledge@plos.org)
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