PLOS Biology

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Why do hosts and parasites vary so much? This Primer by Andrea Graham & David A Chang van Oordt explores a new @PLOSBiology.org study revealing that infection outcomes strongly depend upon host/parasite genotypic interactions. 🧪 Article plos.io/4kbfb99 Primer plos.io/48bN8zj

How do the histories of biomes shape biodiversity in the present day? This study by @alexskeels.bsky.social &co uses reconstructed biomes over the past 66 million years to show that current biome properties predict diversity better than historical biomes. 🧪 #AcademicSky #ecology plos.io/4siTMwU

#Neuroinflammation and vascular dysfunction are hallmarks of most neurodegenerative diseases. This Perspective by Shiying Liu & Shi-Yan Ng argues that immune and vascular cells must be critical components of organoid models of #neurodegeneration. 🧪 #AcademicSky #organoids plos.io/4BlHIiu

How does the brain represent symbolic integers and fractions? This study shows that educated adults process both integers and fractions within a shared, topographic map, indicating that the brain integrates numerical concepts to compare magnitudes. 🧪 #NeuroSky #math #numerosity plos.io/4jveiIp

Host–parasite #coevolution has the potential to erode genetic variation. This study of Drosophila and sigma #virus shows that coevolution erodes additive genetic variance in host and pathogen fitness, concentrating variance in host–virus interaction terms. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/4kbfb99

Why do hosts and parasites vary so much? This Primer by Andrea Graham & David A Chang van Oordt explores a new @PLOSBiology.org study revealing that infection outcomes strongly depend upon host/parasite genotypic interactions. 🧪 Article plos.io/4kbfb99 Primer plos.io/48bN8zj

How do the histories of biomes shape biodiversity in the present day? This study by @alexskeels.bsky.social &co uses reconstructed biomes over the past 66 million years to show that current biome properties predict diversity better than historical biomes. 🧪 #AcademicSky #ecology plos.io/4siTMwU

#Neuroinflammation and vascular dysfunction are hallmarks of most neurodegenerative diseases. This Perspective by Shiying Liu & Shi-Yan Ng argues that immune and vascular cells must be critical components of organoid models of #neurodegeneration. 🧪 #AcademicSky #organoids plos.io/4BlHIiu

How are noxious heat conditions detected by mammalian #sensory systems? This study shows that the mechanosensitive cation channel TMEM63B contributes to heat sensation through a unique mechanism modulated by the membrane lipid environment. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/4zM0VZ1

In the age of generative AI, the assumption that writing a paper requires doing science does not hold. This Perspective by @blekhman.bsky.social argues that the field's response to AI-generated papers should be predicated on clarity of purpose for bioresearch. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/47wZsKo

How do fine scale mutational patterns influence gene #evolution? This study by @ribonucleicacids.bsky.social shows that hypermutation at transcription start sites, with #mutation bias and gene conversion, largely shapes DNA through nonadaptive evolutionary processes. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/4iciTNg

Inflammatory bowel disease is fueled by macrophage signals that recruit monocytes to the gut. This study shows that TIMD4 activates the AMPK pathway and suppresses chemokine production in #macrophages, and that a peptide nanoparticle alleviates these effects. 🧪 #AcademicSky #IBD plos.io/4dSAdph

How does the brain represent symbolic integers and fractions? This study shows that educated adults process both integers and fractions within a shared, topographic map, indicating that the brain integrates numerical concepts to compare magnitudes. 🧪 #NeuroSky #math #numerosity plos.io/4jveiIp

Host–parasite #coevolution has the potential to erode genetic variation. This study of Drosophila and sigma #virus shows that coevolution erodes additive genetic variance in host and pathogen fitness, concentrating variance in host–virus interaction terms. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/4kbfb99

Neurons in the central nervous system are often more vulnerable to #neurodegeneration than those in the peripheral nervous system. This Essay by Shuji Wakatsuki & Toshiyuki Araki argues that differences reactions to oxidative #stress could explain why. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/4dSfxh7

Food preferences are shaped through #social #learning, but how does this occur in the brain? This study shows that oxytocin signaling in the dorsal lateral septum is required for social transmission of food preferences in mice. 🧪 #AcademicSky #feeding plos.io/4ia0Uaj

Barrier #epithelia are protected by apical extracellular matrices (aECMs). This Resource by @gotworms.bsky.social @ucscscience.bsky.social &co generates a toolkit of 105 fluorescently tagged aECM components and defines reference markers for key substructures. 🧪 #AcademicSky #Celegans plos.io/4sggBS0

Circulating levels of GDF15 change during pregnancy, and low levels have been linked to fetal growth restriction in clinical studies. This study shows that placenta-specific GDF15 is required to support fetal growth in mice. 🧪 #AcademicSky #placenta #development plos.io/3U4gLzh

How are noxious heat conditions detected by mammalian #sensory systems? This study shows that the mechanosensitive cation channel TMEM63B contributes to heat sensation through a unique mechanism modulated by the membrane lipid environment. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/4zM0VZ1

In the age of generative AI, the assumption that writing a paper requires doing science does not hold. This Perspective by @blekhman.bsky.social argues that the field's response to AI-generated papers should be predicated on clarity of purpose for bioresearch. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/47wZsKo

How do fine scale mutational patterns influence gene #evolution? This study by @ribonucleicacids.bsky.social shows that hypermutation at transcription start sites, with #mutation bias and gene conversion, largely shapes DNA through nonadaptive evolutionary processes. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/4iciTNg

Inflammatory bowel disease is fueled by macrophage signals that recruit monocytes to the gut. This study shows that TIMD4 activates the AMPK pathway and suppresses chemokine production in #macrophages, and that a peptide nanoparticle alleviates these effects. 🧪 #AcademicSky #IBD plos.io/4dSAdph

Been a long time coming - lots of hard work from Aleksei Belyi together with @ali--wilson.bsky.social and Frank Jiggins

How does the brain represent symbolic integers and fractions? This study shows that educated adults process both integers and fractions within a shared, topographic map, indicating that the brain integrates numerical concepts to compare magnitudes. 🧪 #NeuroSky #math #numerosity plos.io/4jveiIp

Host–parasite #coevolution has the potential to erode genetic variation. This study of Drosophila and sigma #virus shows that coevolution erodes additive genetic variance in host and pathogen fitness, concentrating variance in host–virus interaction terms. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/4kbfb99

How do #pathogens prioritize nutrients while adapting to changing environments? This study shows that an inositol-sensing receptor enables a #yeast to maintain inositol use even when glucose is abundant, linking nutrient sensing to carbon #metabolism and virulence. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/3VK38FY

Precise integration of large DNA sequences into plant genomes remains a major challenge. This study presents PrimeStack, a platform that combines prime editing with an integrase, allowing high efficiency, programmable insertion of multigene cargos. 🧪 #AcademicSky #plants #transgenic plos.io/3TIJSYQ

Physiological trade-offs make traits costly, but resource requirements vary. This study by @sarperotto.bsky.social @javadmeghrazi.bsky.social &co uses a unified energy-proteome allocation framework to predict costs and growth across environmental conditions. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/4k5TlUA

Human vocal tracts vary extensively between individuals, but how does this translate into sound diversity between speakers and languages? This study uses vocal tract imaging to develop a biocultural model of phonetic #evolution. 🧪 #AcademicSky #phonetics plos.io/3VWIKBt

Human working #memory is capacity-limited, requiring information to be actively organized to support efficient encoding and maintenance. This study by @doellerlab.bsky.social &co shows that spontaneous eye movements track memory structure and adapt to cognitive demand. 🧪 #NeuroSky plos.io/4iuFzcY

Neurons in the central nervous system are often more vulnerable to #neurodegeneration than those in the peripheral nervous system. This Essay by Shuji Wakatsuki & Toshiyuki Araki argues that differences reactions to oxidative #stress could explain why. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/4dSfxh7

Food preferences are shaped through #social #learning, but how does this occur in the brain? This study shows that oxytocin signaling in the dorsal lateral septum is required for social transmission of food preferences in mice. 🧪 #AcademicSky #feeding plos.io/4ia0Uaj

Barrier #epithelia are protected by apical extracellular matrices (aECMs). This Resource by @gotworms.bsky.social @ucscscience.bsky.social &co generates a toolkit of 105 fluorescently tagged aECM components and defines reference markers for key substructures. 🧪 #AcademicSky #Celegans plos.io/4sggBS0

Circulating levels of GDF15 change during pregnancy, and low levels have been linked to fetal growth restriction in clinical studies. This study shows that placenta-specific GDF15 is required to support fetal growth in mice. 🧪 #AcademicSky #placenta #development plos.io/3U4gLzh

How are noxious heat conditions detected by mammalian #sensory systems? This study shows that the mechanosensitive cation channel TMEM63B contributes to heat sensation through a unique mechanism modulated by the membrane lipid environment. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/4zM0VZ1

In the age of generative AI, the assumption that writing a paper requires doing science does not hold. This Perspective by @blekhman.bsky.social argues that the field's response to AI-generated papers should be predicated on clarity of purpose for bioresearch. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/47wZsKo

How do fine scale mutational patterns influence gene #evolution? This study by @ribonucleicacids.bsky.social shows that hypermutation at transcription start sites, with #mutation bias and gene conversion, largely shapes DNA through nonadaptive evolutionary processes. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/4iciTNg

Inflammatory bowel disease is fueled by macrophage signals that recruit monocytes to the gut. This study shows that TIMD4 activates the AMPK pathway and suppresses chemokine production in #macrophages, and that a peptide nanoparticle alleviates these effects. 🧪 #AcademicSky #IBD plos.io/4dSAdph

Excited to share that my first paper is finally out @plosbiology.org! So grateful to have worked alongside such an incredible team of researchers to build an important characterisation of the small but mighty "titanide" (and remind all that the plastic C. neoformans "typical cell" is anything but).

Move over titan cells, the titanides have arrived! I'm so proud of PhD student @abby-potton.bsky.social and postdoc Iana Kalinina @mrccmm.bsky.social , who built up an entirely new way of looking at #cryptococcus cells to discover what titanides are, where they come from, and what they do.

PAPER from @vandepoelelab.bsky.social in @plosbiology.org journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

How do #pathogens prioritize nutrients while adapting to changing environments? This study shows that an inositol-sensing receptor enables a #yeast to maintain inositol use even when glucose is abundant, linking nutrient sensing to carbon #metabolism and virulence. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/3VK38FY

Precise integration of large DNA sequences into plant genomes remains a major challenge. This study presents PrimeStack, a platform that combines prime editing with an integrase, allowing high efficiency, programmable insertion of multigene cargos. 🧪 #AcademicSky #plants #transgenic plos.io/3TIJSYQ

Physiological trade-offs make traits costly, but resource requirements vary. This study by @sarperotto.bsky.social @javadmeghrazi.bsky.social &co uses a unified energy-proteome allocation framework to predict costs and growth across environmental conditions. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/4k5TlUA