06/13/2024
Meta-Research Article
Based on the analysis of 376 therapies in 54 human diseases, Benjamin Ineichen, Malcolm Macleod and co-authors show that, contrary to widespread assertions, the proportion of successful animal-to-human translation may be higher than anticipated; however, the low rate of final regulatory approval indicates potential design flaws in both animal studies and early clinical trials.
Image credit: pbio.3002667
Current Issue May 2024
06/13/2024
Research Article
During the development of the larval Drosophila epidermis, histoblasts and epithelial cells compete for space as they grow and undergo morphological changes. Annafrancesca Rigato, Loïc LeGoff and colleagues show that compressive forces play a key role in controlling the shape of histoblasts, leading to the buckling of their apical junctions and changing their morphology from straight to highly folded outlines.
Image credit: pbio.3002662
06/13/2024
Research Article
Difficulties in reasoning about others’ mental states ("Theory of Mind") are highly prevalent among disorders featuring dopamine dysfunctions, but are these difficulties a direct consequence of aberrant dopamine signaling? Bianca Schuster, Jennifer Cook and co-authors provide insights into the role of dopamine in Theory of Mind, showing that the D2-receptor antagonist haloperidiol reduces the accuracy with which healthy adults attribute mental states.
Image credit: pbio.3002652
06/12/2024
Research Article
CRISPR-Cas12a systems have numerous genome editing applications in both animals and plants. Jingjing Wei, Junnan Tang, Yongming Wang and colleagues screen 14 novel Cas12a nucleases for genome editing activity and engineer a high-fidelity Mb4Cas12a variant that is capable of discriminating single-nucleotide polymorphisms.
Image credit: pbio.3002680
06/10/2024
Research Article
During host dissemination, Toxoplasma parasites sense and adapt to environmental factors, such as oxygen levels. Charlotte Cordonnier, Ira Blader and colleagues show that the oxygen sensing protein TgPhyA also mediates resistance to IFNγ-induced nutritional immunity by facilitating scavenging of tryptophan in T. gondii.
Image credit: pbio.3002690
06/10/2024
Research Article
Autism has diverse genetic origins which converge on a similar set of behaviors. Laura Burnett, Maximilian Joesch and co-workers show that three genetic models of autism have similar impairments in visual threat responses, and that these are driven by potassium channel misregulation in Setd5 haploinsufficient mice.
Image credit: Maximilian Jösch & Laura Burnett
06/11/2024
Editorial
The planetary outlook for biodiversity is dire. Leah Gerber and Gwenllian Iacona introduce a new Collection of articles that discuss the data we have and the data we need for more effective conservation policies.
Image credit: Leah Gerber
06/10/2024
Essay
Vanessa Adams investigates why more progress has not been made in considering economic costs in conservation, and highlights common mistakes made when selecting, estimating, and including costs in conservation decisions.
Image credit: pbio.3002676
06/10/2024
Perspective
Conservationists are still grappling with what social justice means in practice. EJ Milner-Gulland argues that a major shift in mindset is required in order to achieve socially just, rights-based conservation, and that shift needs to happen now.
Image credit: Leah Gerber
06/04/2024
Essay
Frank Hawkins argues that we need better spatially explicit and actionable data on the causes of biodiversity loss that can be conveyed to company decision-makers in a format that they can use easily and efficiently.
Image credit: pbio.3002689
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.
.
This collection explores engineering strategies to help us adapt plants to a changing climate, including breeding techniques, genome engineering, synthetic biology and microbiome engineering.
The green collection explores biological solutions that could be applied to reduce CO2 emissions, get rid of non-degradable plastics, produce food in a sustainable manner or generate energy.
June 18 - 21
Meet Associate Editor Melissa Vazquez Hernandez (mvazquezhernandez@plos.org)
June 24 - 29
Meet Senior Editor Christian Schnell (cschnell@plos.org)
July 28 - August 2
Meet Senior Editor Roli Roberts (rroberts@plos.org)
September 1 - 4
Meet Associate Editor Melissa Vazquez Hernandez (mvazquezhernandez@plos.org)
September 9 - 11
Meet Senior Editor Ines Alvarez-Garcia (ialvarez-garcia@plos.org)
Connect with Us