image: A reduction of the retrotransposon at the Drosophila NMJ leads to a drastic increase in synaptogenesis and plasticity (-copia). The structure of Copia (center), shows a large retroviral like structure with pores (right panel), that are very similar to those found in HIV-1 capsids, these pores and like structures are needed for reverse transcription of viral genomes. Altogether we found that the retroviral nature of Copia regulates a physiological function.
Credit: M’Angale PG et al., 2025, PLOS Biology, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Biology: https://plos.io/42Ly2Pr
Article title: Capsid transfer of the retrotransposon Copia controls structural synaptic plasticity in Drosophila
Author countries: United States
Funding: This work was supported by NIH Grant R01NS112492 to TT. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Journal
PLOS Biology
Method of Research
Experimental study
Subject of Research
Animals
COI Statement
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.