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Starfish crowns’ seasonal fashion

May 14, 2024

Starfish crowns’ seasonal fashion

The crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS), a notorious consumer of corals and destroyer of coral reefs, reproduces exclusively in the summer. Marie Morin, Mathias Jönsson, Sandie Degnan, Bernard Degnan and colleagues reveal seasonal changes in COTS gene expression, providing molecular leads for novel biocontrol methods by revealing new insights into circannual biological rhythms in tropical oceans.


Image credit: Sandie Degnan

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PLOS BIOLOGUE

05/16/2024

Research Article

Robust genetic codes boost evolution

Only “one in a million” possible genetic codes are as robust as the standard genetic code, but does this robustness accelerate or impede adaptive evolution? Hana Rozhoňová, Joshua Payne and colleagues use experimental data from six massively parallel sequence-to-function assays for four proteins to show that robust genetic codes enhance protein evolvability by producing smooth adaptive landscapes with few peaks. Don’t miss the related Primer.

Image credit: pbio.3002594

Robust genetic codes boost evolution

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Current Issue

Current Issue April 2024

05/16/2024

Research Article

Help or punishment?

In third-party interventions, people tend to get involved in others’ injustices by either punishing the transgressor or helping the victim. Huagen Wang, Shaozheng Qin, Chao Liu and co-workers show that acute stress decreases the third party’s willingness to punish the violator and increases their willingness to help the victim. Read more details in the associated Primer.

Image credit: pbio.3002195

Help or punishment?

05/14/2024

Research Article

Turing-type feather formation: mind the gap

Gap junctions mediate direct exchanges of ions or small molecules between cells, enabling rapid long-distance communication. Chun-Chih Tseng, Chuong Cheng-Ming and colleagues find that inhibition of gap junction intercellular communication can stimulate new feather bud formation in specific topological positions in developing chick skin explants, which can be predicted with mathematical simulations of consecutive waves of Turing’s instabilities.

Image credit: Chun-Chih Tseng

Turing-type feather formation: mind the gap

05/14/2024

Research Article

Pupil tales of the neurons

Pupil size can be used as an indicator of arousal, but how it relates to spontaneous and stimulus driven neural activity is not well understood. Davide Crombie, Christian Leibold, Laura Busse and co-workers uncover multiple timescales of pupil dynamics and characterize their relationship to neural activity in mice.

Pupil tales of the neurons

Image credit: pbio.3002614

05/08/2024

Research Article

Katnal2, ependymal cilia and autism

Mutations in the microtubule regulatory protein Katnal2 have been linked to autism. Ryeonghwa Kang, Kyungdeok Kim, Yewon Jung, Eunjoon Kim and co-workers find that loss of Katnal2 in mice leads to autism-related phenotypes, which are driven in part by altered ciliary function in the lateral ventricles.

Katnal2, ependymal cilia and autism

Image credit: pbio.3002596

05/07/2024

Research Article

Secretion in Toxoplasma gondii

Toxoplasma gondii relies on specialized secretory organelles for invasion and host cell manipulation. Justin Quan, Peter Bradley and co-authors characterize all Tre2-Bub2-Cdc16 (TBC) domain-containing proteins in T. gondii, identifying TBC9 as an essential regulator of the GTPase Rab2 that controls intracellular vesicular trafficking.

Secretion in Toxoplasma gondii

Image credit: pbio.3002634

04/16/2024

Unsolved Mystery

How do endosymbionts work with so few genes?

This Unsolved Mystery article explores how genome reduction alters endosymbiont biology and highlights a ‘tipping point’ where the loss of the ability to build a cell envelope coincides with a marked erosion of translation-related genes.

How do endosymbionts work with so few genes?

Image credit: pbio.3002577

04/12/2024

Editorial

Symbiosis: In search of a deeper understanding

Thomas Richards and Nancy Moran discuss our new collection of articles exploring emerging themes in symbiosis research, as researchers exploit modern research tools and new models to unravel how symbiotic interactions function and evolve.

Symbiosis: In search of a deeper understanding

Image credit: Estelle Kilias

04/12/2024

Perspective

Fungal holobionts to inform synthetic endosymbioses

Rhizopus microsporus is a fungal holobiont, harboring bacterial and viral endosymbionts. Laila Partida-Martínez explores how these microbial allies increase pathogenicity and defense and control reproduction in the fungus.

Fungal holobionts to inform synthetic endosymbioses

Image credit: pbio.3002587

04/12/2024

Essay

Fitness trade-offs and the origins of endosymbiosis

Endosymbiosis is common and has played an important role in the evolution of complex life. Michael Brockhurst, Duncan Cameron and Andrew Beckerman explore the theory and experimental evidence for trade-offs in the early-stage evolution of endosymbiosis.

Fitness trade-offs and the origins of endosymbiosis

Image credit: pbio.3002580

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PLOS Biology | ISSN: 1545-7885 (online)