04/10/2025
Short Reports
The mechanistic understanding of the complex between ALK kinase and its cytokine ligand ALKAL2 has been complicated by reports of diverse stoichiometries. Jan Felix, Savvas Savvides and co-workers reanalyze cryo-EM data to reveal that the dataset includes two distinct populations of 2:1 and 2:2 complexes.
Image credit: pbio.3003124
Current Issue March 2025
04/10/2025
Research Article
PRPP amidotransferase (PPAT) is the rate-limiting enzyme in de novo purine synthesis, but how its activity is regulated remains unclear. Masak Takaine, Takashi Nishimura and co-authors show that PPAT forms intracellular condensates in response to high purine demand through phase separation, facilitating de novo purine synthesis in yeast.
Image credit: pbio.3003111
04/10/2025
Methods and Resources
How specific cargos are targeted to the apical and basolateral domains within epithelial cells is still unclear. Jennifer Richens, Mariia Dmitrieva, Helen Zenner, Daniel St Johnston and colleagues develop a vesicle tracking software (MSP-tracker) and use it to show that the secretory pathway in Drosophila follicle cells is more spatially organized than previously thought.
Image credit: pbio.3003099
04/10/2025
Research Article
ER-resident IRE1 is known to play a role in cancer development through its enzymatic activation of XPB1 transcription factors and of regulated RNA decay. Iratxe Zuazo-Gaztelu, Avi Ashkenazi and co-workers show that some cancer cells also have an unexpected nonenzymatic dependency on IRE1 to promote cell cycle progression and tumor growth.
Image credit: pbio.3003086
04/10/2025
Research Article
Mutations in the SLC13A5 citrate transporter have been linked to epilepsy in humans. Deepika Dogra, Deborah Kurrasch and co-authors generate a new zebrafish model of slc13a5 epilepsy and reveal that in this model, excessive extracellular citrate chelates zinc ions that regulate NMDA receptor function, in turn driving seizures.
Image credit: Deepika Dogra
04/07/2025
Research Article
To navigate the world, the brain needs to have internal models of self-motion, for example of whisker movement in mice. Suma Chinta and Scott Pluta show how neurons in the midbrain superior colliculus encode internal and external signals to build an accurate representation of whisker position and locomotion speed.
Image credit: pbio.3003087
04/07/2025
Perspective
Vaccine platform technologies greatly reduce the time and cost of developing a novel vaccine. However, there is much still to do; Sarah Gilbert outlines vaccine development priorities to improve our response to future outbreaks.
Image credit: Unsplash user Ed Us
04/03/2025
Perspective
Daniel Blumstein advocates for proper funding and resources to enable collection of long-term ecological data, which is essential to assess animal behavior and adaptation in the face of anthropogenic change.
Image credit: Cesar Nufio
03/28/2025
Perspective
The coming decade might see major cuts to US Government funding for biomedicine and the mainstreaming of pseudoscience. Peter Hotez explores how your biosciences PhD may help you navigate this maelstrom.
Image credit: Unsplash user Casey Horner
03/27/2025
Essay
Soil biodiversity is critical for supporting the health of humans, animals and the environment. This Essay discusses the importance of soil biodiversity in the face of global stressors, and our major knowledge gaps.
Image credit: pbio.3003093
Neurotechnology offers unprecedented opportunities to treat neural disorders, restore brain function and enhance cognitive abilities. This collection explores the present and possible futures of neurotechnology to improve human health and cognition.
Translating conservation and biodiversity research from the field into the real world is a complex problem. This collection discusses issues around economics, policy, and how to do research that answers questions that decision makers have.
Symbiosis research has become a holistic and pervasive field with a mature theoretical basis. This collection showcases symbiotic relationships across the tree of life, exploring their evolutionary basis and underlying mechanisms.
PLOS Biology is 20 and we are celebrating with a collection that contains articles that look back at landmark studies that we published, others that look past and future, and others discussing how publishing and open science have evolved and what is to come.
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This collection explores engineering strategies to help us adapt plants to a changing climate, including breeding techniques, genome engineering, synthetic biology and microbiome engineering.
April 13 - 16
Meet Senior Editor Roli Roberts (rroberts@plos.org)
April 22 - 24
Meet Senior Editor Luke Smith (lsmith@plos.org)
May 11 - 16
Meet Associate Editor Melissa Vazquez Hernandez (mvazquezhernandez@plos.org)
May 13 - 17
Meet Senior Editor Luke Smith (lsmith@plos.org)
May 18 - 23
Meet Editor in Chief Nonia Pariente (npariente@plos.org)
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