March 2004

Endosymbiosis is an interdependent association between two species, in which one, typically microbial, partner lives within a host. Jonathan Eisen and colleagues describe the genome sequence of the endosymbiont Wolbachia pipientis, and discuss the insights that this provides into the ecology and evolution of endosymbiosis (see article). The cover shows a micrograph of Wolbachia (green) within a cell line isolated from the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus.

Image Credit: Cover image provided by Kelly Johnston and Mark Taylor, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Essay

Identifying Protein Function—A Call for Community Action

Richard J Roberts

PLOS Biology: published March 16, 2004 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0020042

Feature

Taste Perception: Cracking the Code

Jane Bradbury

PLOS Biology: published March 16, 2004 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0020064

Unsolved Mystery

The Strange Case of the Armored Scale Insect and Its Bacteriome

Benjamin B Normark

PLOS Biology: published March 16, 2004 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0020043

Journal Club

Protein Nanomachines

Michael Strong

PLOS Biology: published March 16, 2004 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0020073

Primer

Endosymbiosis: Lessons in Conflict Resolution

Jennifer J Wernegreen

PLOS Biology: published March 16, 2004 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0020068

Community Page

NCEAS: Promoting Creative Collaborations

O. J Reichman

PLOS Biology: published March 16, 2004 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0020072

Research Articles

No Evidence of Neandertal mtDNA Contribution to Early Modern Humans

David Serre, André Langaney, Mario Chech, Maria Teschler-Nicola, Maja Paunovic, Philippe Mennecier, Michael Hofreiter, Göran Possnert, Svante Pääbo

PLOS Biology: published March 16, 2004 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0020057

Preferential Duplication of Conserved Proteins in Eukaryotic Genomes

Jerel C Davis, Dmitri A Petrov

PLOS Biology: published March 16, 2004 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0020055

Phylogenomics of the Reproductive Parasite Wolbachia pipientis wMel: A Streamlined Genome Overrun by Mobile Genetic Elements

Martin Wu, Ling V Sun, Jessica Vamathevan, Markus Riegler, Robert Deboy, Jeremy C Brownlie, Elizabeth A McGraw, William Martin, Christian Esser, Nahal Ahmadinejad, Christian Wiegand, Ramana Madupu, Maureen J Beanan, Lauren M Brinkac, Sean C Daugherty, A. Scott Durkin, James F Kolonay, William C Nelson, Yasmin Mohamoud, Perris Lee, Kristi Berry, M. Brook Young, Teresa Utterback, Janice Weidman, William C Nierman, Ian T Paulsen, Karen E Nelson, Hervé Tettelin, Scott L O'Neill, Jonathan A Eisen

PLOS Biology: published March 16, 2004 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0020069