Latest Articles

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  Section: Organization Studies ; Topics: Environmental sciences, History, Sociology

  Global North-South science inequalities due to language and funding barriers

  Turba, Rachel;   Thoré, Eli S.J.;   Bertram, Michael G.;   Bridg, Hannia;   Sabet, Saeed Shafiei;   Gamboa, Maribet;   Ríos-Orjuela, Juan Camilo;   Takola, Elina;   Capa Salinas, Jose;   Sampaio Franco, Ana Clara;   Marín, César  

  10.24072/pcjournal.677 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 6 (2026), article no. e9

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  Delving into the persistent impacts of colonialism within the sphere of modern science, we explore some of the deep-seated disparities between the Global North and South with regards to the scientific enterprise. Central to this inequality are the hurdles of language and financial support. As such, this work discusses the often-overlooked obstacles that Global South scientists face, including the additional efforts non-native English speakers must invest in reading and publishing, their higher rejection rates, and the widespread neglect of publications in languages other than English. These challenges not only hinder the advancement of science but also deepen existing divides. Furthermore, we examine the double-edged sword of and the geopolitical limits of open science. While these policies democratize access to scientific knowledge, they can inadvertently exacerbate the North-South inequalities due to, for example, the prohibitive costs associated with open-access publishing—a financial burden that is often unmanageable for researchers with limited funding. This funding gap severely restricts the Global South’s scientific capabilities and impact, affecting everything from conducting comprehensive research to attending scientific meetings. The culmination of these disparities not only diminishes the impact of Global South researchers in their fields but also traps them in a cycle of reduced funding and limited global networking opportunities. In addressing these complex issues, the contributions in this work highlight some of the most common and pronounced issues related to scientific inequalities, as well as suggesting possible ways of bridging these gaps in order to reach a more equitable distribution of resources and recognition in the global scientific community.

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  Section: Infections ; Topics: Agricultural sciences, Plant biology

  CMV can spread through plant to plant contact: implications for experimental practices

  Chateau, Lola; Szadkowski, Marion; Théodore, Jérémy; Rimbaud, Loup  

  10.24072/pcjournal.675 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 6 (2026), article no. e8

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  Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) is a major plant pathogen with a worldwide distribution and the widest host range among all known plant viruses. It affects numerous crop species and can cause symptoms that significantly reduce yield. CMV is primarily transmitted by aphids and more sporadically through seeds. It is frequently studied in laboratory settings with the aim of developing effective control strategies. In many experiments, infected plants are placed in direct contact with healthy ones assuming that CMV cannot be transmitted in this way. However, this has not been formally demonstrated. Therefore, this study aimed to assess whether CMV can be transmitted through plant-to-plant contact. Infected plants were first rubbed against healthy ones and then left in contact for 28 days. Target plants were subsequently tested using DAS-ELISA to detect potential transmission. We applied this protocol in two separate experiments totalizing 15 combinations of plant species including pepper (Capsicum annuum) and five weed species commonly found in Espelette pepper fields (Capsella bursa-pastoris, Cerastium glomeratum, Stellaria media, Stachys arvensis and Trifolium repens). We found that CMV could be transmitted through contact between pepper and all tested weed species except T. repens. These findings highlight the importance of verifying whether a virus is capable of contact transmission before carrying out experiments in conditions that could lead to such contacts. In case of transmission, appropriate precautions will be crucial to avoid unintended transmissions.

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  Section: Evolutionary Biology ; Topics: Evolution, Computer sciences

  Rehabilitating the benefits of gene tree correction in the presence of incomplete lineage sorting

  Lafond, Manuel;   Scornavacca, Celine  

  10.24072/pcjournal.674 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 6 (2026), article no. e7

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  Gene trees play an important role in various areas of phylogenomics. However, their reconstruction often relies on limited-length sequences and may not account for complex evolutionary events, such as gene duplications, losses, or incomplete lineage sorting (ILS), which are not modeled by standard phylogenetic methods. To address these challenges, it is common to first infer gene trees using fast algorithms for conventional models, then refine them through species tree-aware correction methods. Recently, it has been argued that such corrections can lead to overfitting and force gene trees to resemble the species tree, thereby obscuring genuine gene-level variation caused by ILS. In this paper, we challenge and refute this hypothesis, and we demonstrate that, when applied carefully, correction methods can offer significant benefits, even in the presence of ILS.

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  Section: Zoology ; Topics: Genetics/genomics

  Nanopore genome skimming with Illumina polishing yields highly accurate mitogenome sequences: a case study of Niphargus amphipods

  Salussolia, Alice;   Lecoquierre, Ninon; Stoch, Fabio;   Flot, Jean-François  

  10.24072/pcjournal.671 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 6 (2026), article no. e6

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  With over 430 species currently described, the amphipod genus Niphargus Schiödte, 1849 is the most species-rich crustacean genus in subterranean waters. Previous phylogenetic studies of this genus have relied mainly on mitochondrial COI and nuclear 28S sequences, which do not resolve all the nodes in its phylogeny. As a first step towards a mitogenome-based phylogeny of niphargids, we present here the first complete mitogenome sequence of Niphargus. To obtain high-accuracy mitogenome sequences and annotations, genome skimming of three individuals of Niphargus dolenianensis Lorenzi, 1898 was performed using both short, accurate reads (Illumina) and long, noisier reads (nanopore). Whereas the direct assembly of Illumina sequences yielded structurally incorrect mitogenome sequences, the assembly of nanopore reads produced highly accurate sequences that were corroborated by the mapping of Illumina reads. Polishing the nanopore consensus using Illumina reads corrected a handful of errors at the homopolymer level. The resulting mitogenome sequences ranged from 14,956 to 15,199 bp and shared the same arrangement of 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, and a putative control region. Phylogenetic analyses based on protein-coding genes confirmed that the Niphargidae family is sister to Pseudoniphargidae, resolving their relationships with other amphipod families. This highlights the utility of mtDNA genome sequences for studying the evolution of this groundwater genus, and the refinement of new methodological approaches, such as nanopore sequencing, is promising for the study of its origin and diversification.