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Sonic hedgehog and feather branching

March 20, 2025

Sonic hedgehog and feather branching

The Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) pathway is a key regulator of feather development. Rory Cooper and Michel Milinkovitch show that in vivo Shh inhibition during early chicken embryogenesis temporarily results in unbranched and non-invaginated embryonic feather buds, similar to those seen in some early dinosaur ancestors of birds.

Image credit: Rory Cooper & Michel Milinkovitch

PLOS Biologue

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

PLOS BIOLOGUE

03/21/2025

Research Article

Navigation strategy learning in worms

How do worms navigate based on learned experience? Kevin Chen, Anuj Sharma, Jonathan Pillow and Andrew Leifer reveal the flexible behavioral strategies and distributed neural computations that underlie learning-dependent odor navigation in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Image credit: pbio.3003005

Navigation strategy learning in worms

Recently Published Articles

Current Issue

Current Issue February 2025

03/20/2025

Research Article

Enhanced memory and sleep

Sleep is known to support memory; however, Sheng Huang, Chengji Piao, Stephan Sigrist and colleagues identify an instance where memory hyperfunction may actually provoke sleep deficits. They find that the short-sleep Drosophila mutant, insomniac, has enhanced memory and that PKA signaling balances sleep and memory in these flies.

Image credit: pbio.3003076

Enhanced memory and sleep

03/18/2025

Short Reports

Outomes of past conservation efforts

Understanding the consequences of past conservation efforts is essential to inform how we maintain and restore species. An analysis of IUCN Red List data on 67,217 animal species, by Ashley Simkins, Silviu Petrovan and co-workers, reveals that a range of different conservation actions have successfully conserved species that are at greatest risk of extinction, but have rarely resulted in full recovery.

Image credit: BR Ansil

Outomes of past conservation efforts

03/17/2025

Short Reports

Double-bladed bacterial toxins

The secretion mechanisms of many type VI secretion system (T6SS) effectors in Gram-negative bacteria remain unclear. Chaya Mushka Fridman, Eran Bosis, Dor Salomon and colleagues identify a new class of T6SS effectors which can harbor either one or two toxic domains and use WHIX as a secretion motif.

Double-bladed bacterial toxins

Image credit: pbio.3003053

03/12/2025

Primer

Is beauty beyond the eye of the butterfly?

The diversity of bright colors observed across the animal world are often used during mate choice. Richard Merrill explores a new study in PLOS Biology which reveals genetic and neural mechanisms contributing to the evolution of visual mating decisions in Heliconius butterflies.

Is beauty beyond the eye of the butterfly?

Image credit: pbio.3003054

03/11/2025

Research Article

Signals from the niche...

Transcription is known to tightly regulate gene expression profiles in stem and differentiating cells, but what about translational control? Ruoxu Wang, Marc Amoyel anc co-workers reveal that signals from the stem cell niche induce changes in translational rates, regulated via eIF3d1 phosphorylation, to control stem cell fate in the Drosophila testis.

Signals from the niche...

Image credit: pbio.3003049

03/19/2025

Community Page

The IBEX Knowledge-Base

Multiplexed imaging is a powerful approach in spatial biology. This Community Page presents the IBEX Knowledge-Base, a central resource for reagents, protocols and more, to enhance knowledge sharing, optimization and innovation of spatial proteomics techniques.

The IBEX Knowledge-Base

Image credit: pbio.3003070

03/18/2025

Perspective

Vector microbiota collections

This article outlines how collections of microbial isolate from insect vectors aid in identifying microbial targets, and why their implementation must rely on coordinated international efforts that are ethical and ensure equitable benefit sharing.

Vector microbiota collections

Image credit: pbio.3003078

03/18/2025

Essay

The end of the genetic paradigm of cancer

Sui Huang, Ana Soto and Carlos Sonnenschein explore cancer omics data that challenge the somatic mutation theory, and present theories based on gene regulatory networks and tissue fields that help explain inconsistencies in the data.

The end of the genetic paradigm of cancer

Image credit: pbio.3003052

02/28/2025

Perspective

New solutions for antibiotic discovery

A major challenge in natural-product-based drug discovery is the identification of gene clusters most likely to specify new chemistry and bioactivities. This Perspective discusses the state of the art of antibiotic discovery.

New solutions for antibiotic discovery

Image credit: pbio.3001026

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