March 16, 2026
03/13/2026
opinion
Darwin’s theory of evolution describes how mean trait values change in response to natural selection over generations. But if mean trait values are subject to natural selection, what about the amount of variation (or noise) around those means?
Image credit: Pawel Czerwinski
Current Issue October 2025
03/11/2026
research article
Bumble bees (Bombus spp.) display remarkable color pattern diversity and convergence driven largely by Müllerian mimicry. In Anatolia, bumble bees mimic each other by converting ancestral yellow anterior setal body color to white in multiple independent lineages.
Image credit: Dabak et al
02/12/2026
research aricle
Many people experience chills when listening to music, reading poetry, or viewing art. Yet not everyone feels these reactions in the same way. These differences provide a window into how our brains and bodies respond to art, revealing individual variation in emotional experiences.
Image credit: Europeana
01/22/2026
research article
The authors establish the broad conservation of chromatin states and their association with transcription in land plants. They design an index that predicts transcription factor binding and identify distinct groups of transcription factors based on their occupation of chromatin states.
Image credit: Shukla et al
01/16/2026
research article
Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile segments of DNA that can “jump” from one place to another in a genome, causing genetic changes that can impact fitness and evolution. The authors investigate how different environmental conditions influence TE mobility in the pathogenic yeast Cryptococcus neoformans.
Image credit: Emanuel Rodriguez
01/09/2026
research article
Using baker’s yeast as a model system, the authors developed a rapid approach that allowed them to track how healthy and mutant mitochondrial DNA variants are inherited when cells divide. They found that cells preferentially retain mitochondrial DNA that supports normal mitochondrial function, even under conditions where respiration is not required.
Image credit: Elijah Pilchard
10/30/2025
research article
In this article, the authors develop a high-throughput conjugation method in E. coli and, using whole-genome sequencing, reveal strain-...
Image credit: pgen.1011636
10/27/2025
research article
Here, the authors show that TERT localizes within mitochondria under physiological conditions, independent of TERC. TERT binds mitochondrial DNA, influencing replication and...
Image credit: pgen.1011923
10/27/2025
research article
Through an RNAi screen in the Drosophila midgut, the authors identify the epigenetic factor Zrf1 as a key regulator of intestinal stem cell proliferation. Functional analyses show that Zrf1...
Image credit: pgen.1011910
10/31/2025
research article
Here, the authors present an isodecoder-level map of tRNA modifications in Vibrio cholerae, generated using chemical sequencing of wild-type and deletion strains.
Image credit: pgen.1011937
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