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Current Issue of PLoSBiology

Current Issue | PLOS Biology
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Table of Contents

May 2025

Cover

Identification of a large anion channel required for digestive vacuole acidification and amino acid export in Plasmodium falciparum
Issue Image

Malaria parasites survive in human erythrocytes by importing and digesting hemoglobin within a specialized organelle, the digestive vacuole (DV). Although chloroquine and other antimalarials act within the DV, the routes used by drugs, ions, and amino acids to cross the DV membrane remain poorly understood. Here, Saggu et al. used single DV patch-clamp to identify a novel large conductance anion channel as the primary conductive pathway on this organelle in Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent human pathogen. This Big Vacuolar Anion Channel (BVAC) is primarily open at the DV resting membrane potential and undergoes complex voltage-dependent gating. Conductance and gating are unaffected by antimalarials targeting essential DV activities and are conserved on parasites with divergent drug susceptibility profiles, implicating an unexploited antimalarial target. Direct transport measurements at the DV membrane provide foundational insights into vacuolar physiology, should help clarify antimalarial action and drug resistance, and will guide therapy development against the parasite’s metabolic powerhouse. The image shows transmission electron micrographs of infected erythrocytes, colorized to the highlight the digestive vacuole.

Image Credit: Ryan Kissinger

Consensus View

A standardized nomenclature for the rods and cones of the vertebrate retina

Tom Baden, Juan M. Angueyra, Jenny M. Bosten, Shaun P. Collin, Bevil R. Conway, Fabio Cortesi, Karin Dedek, Thomas Euler, Iñigo Novales Flamarique, Anna Franklin, Silke Haverkamp, Almut Kelber, Stephan C.F. Neuhauss, Wei Li, Robert J. Lucas, Daniel C. Osorio, Karthik Shekhar, Dario Tommasini, Takeshi Yoshimatsu, Joseph C. Corbo

PLOS Biology: published May 7, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003157

Perspectives

Accredited ocean sanctuaries for transforming captive cetacean care

Lori Marino, Charles Vinick, Katy Foster, Jeff Foster, Rob Hicks, Graham McGrath, John Racanelli, Janesse Brewer

PLOS Biology: published May 20, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003166

Is pathogen prediction possible?

Arturo Casadevall

PLOS Biology: published May 15, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003162

Old cytokine, new tricks: A refined model of interferon’s antiviral activity

John W. Schoggins

PLOS Biology: published May 7, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003154

Primers

More science friction for less science fiction

Jennifer A. Byrne, Stefan Stender

PLOS Biology: published May 9, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003167

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Population genetics of plant fungal threats: Insights from wheat powdery mildew

Sergio M. Latorre

PLOS Biology: published May 5, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003151

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Gene promoters are genomically encoded to facilitate histone exchange/incorporation

Blaine Bartholomew

PLOS Biology: published May 13, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003160

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Research Articles

Population genomics and molecular epidemiology of wheat powdery mildew in Europe

Jigisha Jigisha, Jeanine Ly, Nikolaos Minadakis, Fabian Freund, Lukas Kunz, Urszula Piechota, Beyhan Akin, Virgilio Balmas, Roi Ben-David, Szilvia Bencze, Salim Bourras, Matteo Bozzoli, Otilia Cotuna, Gilles Couleaud, Mónika Cséplő, Paweł Czembor, Francesca Desiderio, Jost Dörnte, Antonín Dreiseitl, Angela Feechan, Agata Gadaleta, Kevin Gauthier, Angelica Giancaspro, Stefania L. Giove, Alain Handley-Cornillet, Amelia Hubbard, George Karaoglanidis, Steven Kildea, Emrah Koc, Žilvinas Liatukas, Marta S. Lopes, Fabio Mascher, Cathal McCabe, Thomas Miedaner, Fernando Martínez-Moreno, Charlotte F. Nellist, Sylwia Okoń, Coraline Praz, Javier Sánchez-Martín, Veronica Sărăţeanu, Philipp Schulz, Nathalie Schwartz, Daniele Seghetta, Ignacio Solís Martel, Agrita Švarta, Stefanos Testempasis, Dolors Villegas, Victoria Widrig, Fabrizio Menardo

PLOS Biology: published May 2, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003097

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Improved effectiveness of vaccination campaigns against rabies by reducing spatial heterogeneity in coverage

Elaine A. Ferguson, Ahmed Lugelo, Anna Czupryna, Danni Anderson, Felix Lankester, Lwitiko Sikana, Jonathan Dushoff, Katie Hampson

PLOS Biology: published May 5, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002872

Horizontal gene transfer of molecular weapons can reshape bacterial competition

Elisa T. Granato, Jacob D. Palmer, Christian Kirk, Connor Sharp, George Shillcock, Kevin R. Foster

PLOS Biology: published May 21, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003095

Object knowledge representation in the human visual cortex requires a connection with the language system

Bo Liu, Xiaosha Wang, Xiaoying Wang, Yan Li, Yang Han, Jiahui Lu, Hui Zhang, Xiaochun Wang, Yanchao Bi

PLOS Biology: published May 20, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003161

Predictable motion is progressively extrapolated across temporally distinct processing stages in the human visual cortex

William Turner, Charlie Sexton, Philippa A. Johnson, Ella M. Wilson, Hinze Hogendoorn

PLOS Biology: published May 23, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003189

Excitatory projections from the nucleus reuniens to the medial prefrontal cortex modulate pain and depression-like behaviors in mice

Shu-Ting Bao, Fang Rao, Cui Yin, Yong Niu, Jun-Li Cao, Cheng Xiao, Chunyi Zhou

PLOS Biology: published May 20, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003170

Molecular states underlying neuronal cell type development and plasticity in the postnatal whisker cortex

Salwan Butrus, Hannah R. Monday, Christopher J. Yoo, Daniel E. Feldman, Karthik Shekhar

PLOS Biology: published May 14, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003176

Loss of neuropeptidergic regulation of cholinergic transmission induces homeostatic compensation in muscle cells to preserve synaptic strength

Jiajie Shao, Jana F. Liewald, Wagner Steuer Costa, Christiane Ruse, Jens Gruber, Mohammad S. Djamshedzad, Wulf Gebhardt, Alexander Gottschalk

PLOS Biology: published May 8, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003171

Cadherin-16 regulates acoustic sensory gating in zebrafish through endocrine signaling

Susannah S. Schloss, Zackary Q. Marshall, Nicholas J. Santistevan, Stefani Gjorcheska, Amanda Stenzel, Lindsey Barske, Jessica C. Nelson

PLOS Biology: published May 2, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003164

Upstream open reading frames dynamically modulate CLOCK protein translation to regulate circadian rhythms and sleep

Yuanqiang Sun, Ke Shui, Qinyu Li, Chenlu Liu, Wanting Jin, Jian-Quan Ni, Jian Lu, Luoying Zhang

PLOS Biology: published May 12, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003173

Phosphatase-independent activity of smooth-muscle calcineurin orchestrates a gene expression program leading to hypertension

Paula Sofía Yunes-Leites, Yilin Sun, Sara Martínez-Martínez, Álvaro Alfayate, Marta Toral, María José Méndez-Olivares, Ángel Colmenar, Ana Isabel Torralbo, Dolores López-Maderuelo, Sergio Mateos-García, David N. Cornfield, Jesús Vázquez, Juan Miguel Redondo, Miguel R. Campanero

PLOS Biology: published May 14, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003163

The m5C reader Ybx1 regulates embryonic cortical neurogenesis by promoting progenitor cell cycle progression

Jian Zhang, Pengfei Che, Zhuoxuan Yang, Pingrui Zhang, Yuxuan Shui, Xibin Lu, Jiuzhou Xu, Yuanchu She, Yanbo Zhang, Jun Yu, Sheng-Jian Ji

PLOS Biology: published May 28, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003175

Analysis of gene expression within individual cells reveals spatiotemporal patterns underlying Vibrio cholerae biofilm development

Grace E. Johnson, Chenyi Fei, Ned S. Wingreen, Bonnie L. Bassler

PLOS Biology: published May 16, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003187

The glycosomal ATP-dependent phosphofructokinase of Trypanosoma brucei operates also in the gluconeogenic direction

Nicolas Plazolles, Hanna Kulyk, Edern Cahoreau, Marc Biran, Marion Wargnies, Erika Pineda, Mohammad El Kadri, Aline Rimoldi, Perrine Hervé, Corinne Asencio, Loïc Rivière, Paul A. M. Michels, Daniel Inaoka, Emmanuel Tetaud, Jean-Charles Portais, Frédéric Bringaud

PLOS Biology: published May 16, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002938

Inhibition of the nucleolar RNA exosome facilitates adaptation to starvation

Xi Feng, Xiaoman Wang, Shouhong Guang, Shanshan Pang, Haiqing Tang

PLOS Biology: published May 21, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003190

H2A.Z deposition by the SWR complex is stimulated by polyadenine DNA sequences in nucleosomes

Cynthia Converso, Leonidas Pierrakeas, Lirong Chan, Shalvi Chowdhury, Emily de Onis, Vyacheslav I. Kuznetsov, John M. Denu, Ed Luk

PLOS Biology: published May 12, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003059

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Landscape of essential growth and fluconazole-resistance genes in the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans

R. Blake Billmyre, Caroline J. Craig, Joshua W. Lyon, Claire Reichardt, Amy M. Kuhn, Michael T. Eickbush, Sarah E. Zanders

PLOS Biology: published May 22, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003184

Identification of a large anion channel required for digestive vacuole acidification and amino acid export in Plasmodium falciparum

Gagandeep S. Saggu, Jinfeng Shao, Mansoor A. Siddiqui, Maria Traver, Tatiane Macedo-Silva, Joseph Brzostowski, Sanjay A. Desai

PLOS Biology: published May 30, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003202

An interbacterial cysteine protease toxin inhibits cell growth by targeting type II DNA topoisomerases GyrB and ParE

Pin-Yi Song, Chia-En Tsai, Yung-Chih Chen, Yu-Wen Huang, Po-Pang Chen, Tzu-Haw Wang, Chao-Yuan Hu, Po-Yin Chen, Chuan Ku, Kuo-Chiang Hsia, See-Yeun Ting

PLOS Biology: published May 27, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003208

Short Reports

Circadian rhythms are more resilient to pacemaker neuron disruption in female Drosophila

Aishwarya Ramakrishnan Iyer, Eva Scholz-Carlson, Evardra Bell, Grace Biondi, Shlesha Richhariya, Maria P. Fernandez

PLOS Biology: published May 6, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003146

Rhythm profiling using COFE reveals multi-omic circadian rhythms in human cancers in vivo

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PLOS Biology: published May 27, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003196

Disruption of HaVipR1 confers Vip3Aa resistance in the moth crop pest Helicoverpa armigera

Andreas Bachler, Amanda Padovan, Craig J. Anderson, Yiyun Wei, Yidong Wu, Stephen Pearce, Sharon Downes, Bill James, Ashley E. Tessnow, Gregory A. Sword, Michelle Williams, Wee Tek Tay, Karl H. J. Gordon, Tom K. Walsh

PLOS Biology: published May 29, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003165

The bacterial type three secretion system induces mechanoporation of vacuolar membranes

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PLOS Biology: published May 1, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003135

Methods and Resources

Rewarding animals based on their subjective percepts is enabled by online Bayesian estimation of perceptual biases

Yelin Dong, Gabor Lengyel, Sabyasachi Shivkumar, Akiyuki Anzai, Grace F. DiRisio, Ralf M. Haefner, Gregory C. DeAngelis

PLOS Biology: published May 20, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002764

qByte: An open-source isothermal fluorimeter for democratizing analysis of nucleic acids, proteins and cells

Francisco J. Quero, Guy Aidelberg, Hortense Vielfaure, Yann Huon de Kermadec, Severine Cazaux, Amir Pandi, Ana Pascual-Garrigos, Anibal Arce, Samuel Sakyi, Urs Gaudenz, Fernan Federici, Jennifer C. Molloy, Ariel B. Lindner

PLOS Biology: published May 28, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003199

Meta-Research Article

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Tulsi Suchak, Anietie E. Aliu, Charlie Harrison, Reyer Zwiggelaar, Nophar Geifman, Matt Spick

PLOS Biology: published May 8, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003152

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PLOS Biology: published May 12, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003156

An animal toxin-antidote system kills cells by creating a novel cation channel

Lews Caro, Aguan D. Wei, Christopher A. Thomas, Galen Posch, Ahmet Uremis, Michaela C. Franzi, Sarah J. Abell, Andrew H. Laszlo, Jens H. Gundlach, Jan-Marino Ramirez, Michael Ailion

PLOS Biology: published May 27, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003182

DnaJ mediates phage sensing by the bacterial NLR-related protein bNACHT25

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PLOS Biology: published May 30, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003203

Update Article

Permeability selection of biologically relevant membranes matches the stereochemistry of life on Earth

Olivia Goode, Urszula Łapińska, Juliano Morimoto, Georgina Glover, David S. Milner, Alyson E. Santoro, Stefano Pagliara, Thomas A. Richards

PLOS Biology: published May 20, 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003155

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