This article has made the cover of the November 2025 edition of Molecular Biology and Evolution.

"This study provides new perspectives on the evolution of incomplete cytokinesis and establishes a framework for comparative investigations into the diversity and conservation of intercellular bridge mechanisms across metazoans."

"We identified key conserved components, including KIF23, F-actin, and phosphotyrosine epitopes. Notably, we observed microtubule localization within Hydra ring canals, suggesting previously unrecognized functions for this cytoskeletal component in intercellular bridge formation."

Fantastic effort! Thank you, Anne-Marie and colleagues, for choosing MBE to publish your research.

"The two concepts of epaktovars and xenotypes provide a framework for understanding how independently evolving lineages, whether prokaryotic, eukaryotic, plasmid, or viral, can acquire similar genomic patterns through gene transfer."

Epaktovars: organisms that have independently acquired similar phenotypes

Xenotypes: organisms that share genetic material that has been acquired through horizontal transfer, regardless of quantity, mechanism of transfer, or phenotypic effect

Thank you for publishing with MBE, Chris, Antonis, and colleagues!