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Evolving to eat seaweed

April 1, 2025

Evolving to eat seaweed

Diatoms are ancestrally photosynthetic microalgae, but the genus Nitzschia has lost photosynthesis to become free-living secondary heterotrophs. Zeng Hao Lim, Gregory Jedd and colleagues show how a single horizontal gene transfer from marine bacteria, followed by substantial gene duplication and neofunctionalization, led to alginate catabolism and access to a new ecological niche involving brown algal polysaccharides.

Image credit: Jedd lab

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

PLOS BIOLOGUE

04/04/2025

Methods and Resources

Nanobodies and STED microscopy reveal synaptic organization

How do diverse synapses in the brain organize their nanoarchitecture to meet their different functional requirements? Yeasmin Akter, Grace Jones, Martin Hruska and co-workers demonstrate the use of nanobodies combined with STED imaging to study the nanoarchitecture of thalamocortical and corticocortical synapses, revealing distinct principles of synaptic nano-organization in the brain.

Image credit: pbio.3002649

Nanobodies and STED microscopy reveal synaptic organization

Recently Published Articles

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Current Issue

Current Issue February 2025

04/01/2025

Research Article

Agricultural fungicide drives drug resistance in Candida

Candida tropicalis is a important human pathogen that is increasingly resistant to azole antifungals. Although C. tropicalis was thought to be strictly diploid, Tianren Hu, Qiushi Zheng, Bing Li, Haiqing Chu, Guanghua Huang and co-authors show that a widely used agricultural fungicide induces ploidy plasticity, leading to the formation of haploid cells that are cross-resistant to antifungal drugs. See the Primer by Kaustuv Sanyal and Aswathy Narayanan.

Image credit: pbio.3003062

Agricultural fungicide drives drug resistance in Candida

04/01/2025

Research Article

Mdga2 deficiency and autism

MDGA2 mutations are associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Dongdong Zhao, Yuanhui Huo, Naizhen Zheng, Yun-wu Zhang and colleagues show that MDGA2 competes with BDNF, thereby constraining TrkB signaling, and that aberrant TrkB activation caused by MDGA2-deficiency is crucial for ASD-related synaptic and behavioral phenotypes.

Image credit: pbio.3003047

Mdga2 deficiency and autism

03/31/2025

Research Article

Hunchback determines interneuron identity

Interneuron diversity in the central nervous system is essential for proper circuit assembly, but how are the different aspects of interneuron development coordinated? Heather Pollington and Chris Doe show that the Drosophila temporal transcription factor Hunchback is sufficient to promote interneuron molecular identity, morphology, and presynapse targeting in the NB5-2 lineage.

Hunchback determines interneuron identity

Image credit: Heather Pollington

03/31/2025

Short Reports

Regulation of bacteriophage lytic cycle

Intestinal temperate bacteriophages have a lysogenic-lytic cycle that remains poorly understood. Sol Vendrell-Fernández, David Bikard, Jean-Marc Ghigo and co-workers show that the widespread hankyphage produces defective viral particles, and identify RepCHP as the master repressor of this phage's lytic cycle, shedding light on the regulation of phage induction.

Regulation of bacteriophage lytic cycle

Image credit: Julien Burlaud Gaillard

03/31/2025

Research Article

Notch3 and the asymmetric heart

The secreted factor NODAL is a left determinant required for the asymmetric morphogenesis of organs, including the heart. Tobias Bønnelykke, Audrey Desgrange, Sigolène Meilhac and co-authors identify Notch3 as a novel asymmetric factor that acts as a genetic modifier of NODAL to regulate heart morphogenesis.

Notch3 and the asymmetric heart

Image credit: Tobias Holm Bønnelykke & Sigolène Meilhac

04/03/2025

Perspective

The end of long-term ecological data?

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.

The end of long-term ecological data?

Image credit: Cesar Nufio

03/28/2025

Perspective

Navigating your US career into the 2030s

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.

Navigating your US career into the 2030s

Image credit: Unsplash user Casey Horner

03/27/2025

Essay

Soil biodiversity in a changing world

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.

Soil biodiversity in a changing world

Image credit: pbio.3003093

03/25/2025

Editorial

The sustainability of peer review

The term “reviewer fatigue” has become only too familiar in scientific publishing. This editorial discusses how we can ease the burden on reviewers to make the peer review system more sustainable.

The sustainability of peer review

Image credit: Unsplash user Christa Dodoo

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