Reflecting on 2022

As 2022 draws to a close, we look back at some of the recent changes that have taken place at PLOS Biology, highlight some of our editors’ favorite moments from the past year across the life sciences, and thank our editors, authors and peer-reviewers.

As the magazine section editor, I also have the privilege of overseeing special collections of articles that aim to raise awareness of specific events or issues. In 2022, we published a collection on Mendel's legacy in modern genetics to mark the 200 th birthday of Gregor Mendel, and a collection on Ocean solutions for a sustainable, healthy and inclusive future to explore potential solutions to mitigate the impacts of human activity on ocean ecosystems in line with the UN Ocean Decade. We already have plans in place for some exciting collections in 2023, so watch this space! As well as launching a new type of magazine article, 2022 also saw the publication of our first Pre-Registered Research Articles (PRAs, also known as Registered Reports) [4]. For these articles, the peer review is split into two phases; one that happens before the experiments are conducted, and one that happens once the data has been analyzed and the paper has been written. It is hoped that this approach will improve the quality of research and reduce the focus on 'flashy' results and storytelling in publications. This year we published PRAs on decision-making [5] and spinal cord injury [6], and hope to see many more studies across the breadth of the life sciences published using this approach in the near future.
2022 also saw a return to in-person attendance at conferences. As editors, we have particularly relished being able to meet researchers again face-to-face and catch up with the exciting new developments in our respective fields after such a long break. That said, virtual conference attendance has also been a boon for us, enabling us to dip our toes into unfamiliar topics and learn from and interact with researchers from parts of the globe that are often underrepresented at scientific meetings. We attended around 40 meetings in 2022 and are busy planning our conference schedule for 2023, so do look out for us at meetings you might be attending.
Last but not least, 2022 saw the publication of some excellent science. We have chosen a selection of our favorite PLOS Biology papers from this year as some recommended reading to see you through into the New Year (Box 1).

Box 1. PLOS Biology editors' picks from 2022
Luke Smith (stem cell biology, neurodegeneration, physiology, epigenetics, and circadian rhythms) My choice is "Complementary encoding of spatial information in hippocampal astrocytes" by Curreli et al [7]. This study contributes to an emerging body of work indicating that astrocytic calcium signaling may regulate neuronal function and animal behaviors, with the authors reporting that astrocytic calcium signals encode spatial information in a virtual spatial navigation task. This line of research suggests that information encoding extends beyond neuronal circuits, and it will be exciting to see further work tease apart exactly how and if encoding in astrocytes modulates behavior and circuit activity.
Roli Roberts (genetics, evolutionary biology, ecology, behavior, and meta-research) My choice is "Kelp carbon sink potential decreases with warming due to accelerating decomposition" by Filbee-Dexter et al [8]. The authors shipped standardized mesh bags of kelp to 12 different regions of the Northern hemisphere and measured the rate of decomposition and its relationship to environmental temperature, enabling them to predict the likely change in kelp's carbon sink potential for the rest of this century. This study shows that while kelp decomposition will accelerate at low latitudes, there is scope for increased carbon sequestration by encouraging kelp forest growth at higher latitudes.
All that remains is to thank the authors, reviewers and Academic Editors who have contributed to PLOS Biology in 2022 and without whom this journal would not exist, to thank you for reading, and to hope that 2023 brings more excellent science that can change the future for the better, for all of us.

Kris Dickson (neuroscience)
My choice is "The microbiota promotes social behavior by modulating microglial remodeling of forebrain neurons" by Bruckner et al [9]. This study demonstrates that host-associated microbiota can affect brain development and alter social behavior in zebrafish, contributing to a burgeoning field of science assessing crosstalk between host microbiota and nervous system function. The authors found the loss of diverse zebrafish-associated bacterial strains modulates the abundance and function of forebrain microglia during a critical developmental time window, with these animals showing subsequent deficits in their normal social behavioral repertoire. These findings are a first step towards an understanding of the complex relationships between host-associated microbiota and development and function of the brain in both health and neurodevelopmental disease states.

Richard Hodge (molecular biology, structural biology, and biotechnology)
My choice is "Mitochondria transplantation between living cells" by Gäbelein et al [10]. In this study, the authors present a method called FluidFM that can efficiently transplant mitochondria directly between live cells. The transplantation can be performed without prior treatment or depletion of mitochondrial DNA in the recipient cells. The technique could be used for a wide variety of experimental applications in the future, such as tracking mitochondrial variants, analyzing mitochondrial dynamics or even rejuvenating cells with low metabolic activity in stem cell therapies.

Paula Jauregui (microbiology and immunology)
My choice is "Widespread expression of the ancient HERV-K (HML-2) provirus group in normal human tissues" by Burn et al [11]. In this study, the authors found that a human endogenous retrovirus that has previously been associated with disease is also expressed in healthy tissue. This study highlights the importance of virus-derived proteins as normal components of the human proteome in many tissues and suggests that they may contribute to physiological functions yet to be discovered.
Ines Alvarez-Garcia (cell biology, signaling, development, aging, and plant biology) My choice is "Erebosis, a new cell death mechanism during homeostatic turnover of gut enterocytes" by Ciesielski et al [12]. This study proposes a new cell death mechanism for Drosophila gut enterocytes that the authors term 'erebosis'. They provide evidence suggesting that this is a distinct form of cell death that is conserved in mammals, including humans, and propose that erebosis maintains intestinal tissue homeostasis during physiological cell turnover. The preliminary nature of the data makes it perfect for our Discovery Report format, and future studies will hopefully identify the erebotic genes that regulate this exciting new process.