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Why two colors of kākāpō?

September 10, 2024

Why two colors of kākāpō?

The kākāpō is an endangered and culturally significant parrot endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand. This genomic, phenotypic and simulation study of most living kākāpō, by Lara Urban, Cock van Oosterhout, Hernán Morales and colleagues, explores the evolution of green and olive feather structural coloration, concluding that this polymorphism is likely a remnant of past predation.

Image credit: pbio.3002755

PLOS Biologue

Community blog for PLOS Biology, PLOS Genetics and PLOS Computational Biology.

PLOS BIOLOGUE

09/13/2024

Methods and Resources

Integrating gene expression with neuroimaging data

Integrating neuroimaging and molecular brain data across people, brain regions and states can help to understand human brain individuality. Nhung Hoang, John Capra, Mikail Rubinov and co-workers present a resource that uses computational genomics to estimate genetically regulated components of gene expression and infer associations of this expression with neuroimaging and clinical phenotypes.

Image credit: pbio.3002782

Integrating gene expression with neuroimaging data

Recently Published Articles

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Current Issue

Current Issue August 2024

09/12/2024

Research Article

Alveolins help Toxoplasma stay in shape

Apicomplexan parasites require specialized structures like the inner membrane complex to invade host cells and replicate. Peter Back, Peter Bradley and co-authors show that the alveolin protein IMC6 is crucial for maintaining cellular morphology, invasion and successful replication in Toxoplasma gondii.

Image credit: Peter Back & Qing Lou

Alveolins help Toxoplasma stay in shape

09/11/2024

Research Article

Deleting working memory

Neuronal beta-band oscillations regulate the maintenance and deletion of working memory representations in humans. Wen Wen, Robert Reinhart and colleagues show that the working memory performance of older adults can be predicted by beta-band neural variability during working memory deletion.

Image credit: pbio.3002784

Deleting working memory

09/10/2024

Research Article

Plasmodium endomitosis

The malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium undergoes a unique rapid endomitosis during male gametogenesis. Mohammad Zeeshan, Ravish Rashpa, Mathieu Brochet, Rita Tewari and co-workers show that NEK1 kinase is vital for the microtubule organizing center (MTOC) function and chromosome segregation, facilitating rapid endomitosis in Plasmodium berghei.

Plasmodium endomitosis

Image credit: pbio.3002802

09/10/2024

Research Article

Toxoplasma replication control

Rapid division and biomass production are important for apicomplexan parasite virulence. Asma Sarah Khelifa, Maanasa Bhaskaran, Mathieu Gissot and co-authors show that the phosphatase TgPP1 in Toxoplasma gondii regulates the cell cycle and amylopectin accumulation by dephosphorylating inner membrane complex and starch-binding domain proteins.

Toxoplasma replication control

Image credit: pbio.3002791

09/10/2024

Update Article

Preservation of causal inference in schizophrenia

Hallucinations and perceptual abnormalities in psychosis are thought to arise from imbalanced integration of prior information and sensory inputs. Tim Rohe, Klaus Hesse, Ann-Christine Ehlis, and Uta Noppeney show that the neurocomputational mechanisms of multisensory perceptual and causal inference remain remarkably intact in schizophrenia.

Preservation of causal inference in schizophrenia

Image credit: pbio.3002790

09/10/2024

Essay

Code sharing in biology

For those who want to share their code but don't know where to start, this Essay distils dozens of articles on reproducibility and research software, collecting the most important practical details of how to provide computational transparency even if you aren't a trained software developer.

Code sharing in biology

Image credit: pbio.3002815

09/09/2024

Perspective

Fixing science: stop gaming the system

The open science movement has gained ground, but improvements to the practice of science move at a glacial pace. This Perspective explores the misaligned incentives that are hindering progress to more open, reproducible research.

Fixing science: stop gaming the system

Image credit: Pixabay user PIRO4D

09/05/2024

Perspective

Does music boost cognition?

Florencia Assaneo, Fernando Lizcano-Cortés and Pablo Ripolles discusses a new hypothesis that may help to resolve the debate by explaining how training in rhythmic skills might improve cognitive abilities in some individuals, but not others.

Does music boost cognition?

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons Brandon Giesbrecht

08/29/2024

Unsolved Mystery

Hijackers, hitchhikers, or co-drivers?

Manuel Ares-Arroyo, Charles Coluzzi, Jorge Moura de Sousa and Eduardo Rocha explore how microbial evolution is shaped by mobile genetic elements regulating each other. These functional dependencies raise numerous questions.

Hijackers, hitchhikers, or co-drivers?

Image credit: pbio.3002796

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