Repeated strand invasion and extensive branch migration are hallmarks of meiotic recombination

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Designing Redox‐Stable Cobalt–Polypyridyl Complexes for Redox Flow Batteries: Spin‐Crossover Delocalizes Excess Charge

Redox‐active organometallic molecules offer a promising avenue for increasing the energy density and cycling stability of redox flow batteries. The molecular properties change dramatically as the ligands are functionalized and these variations allow for improving the solubility and controlling the redox potentials to optimize their performance when used as electrolytes. Unfortunately, it has been difficult to predict and design the stability of redox‐active molecules to enhance cyclability in a rational manner, in part because the relationship between electronic structure and redox behavior has been neither fully understood nor systematically explored. In this work, rational strategies for exploiting two common principles in organometallic chemistry for enhancing the robustness of pseudo‐octahedral cobalt–polypyridyl complexes are developed. Namely, the spin‐crossover between low and high‐spin states and the chelation effect emerging from replacing three bidentate ligands with two tridentate analogues. Quantum chemical models are used to conceptualize the approach and make predictions that are tested against experiments by preparing prototype Co‐complexes and profiling them as catholytes and anolytes. In good agreement with the conceptual predictions, very stable cycling performance over 600 cycles is found.     

Atg7 Activates an Autophagy-Essential Ubiquitin-like Protein Atg8 through Multi-Step Recognition

Atg8 is a unique ubiquitin-like protein that is covalently conjugated with a phosphatidylethanolamine through reactions similar to ubiquitination and plays essential roles in autophagy. Atg7 is the E1 enzyme for Atg8, and it activates the C-terminal Gly116 of Atg8 using ATP. Here, we report the crystal structure of Atg8 bound to the C-terminal domain of Atg7 in an unprecedented mode. Atg8 neither contacts with the central β-sheet nor binds to the catalytic site of Atg7, both of which were observed in previously reported Atg7–Atg8 structures. Instead, Atg8 binds to the C-terminal α-helix and crossover loop, thereby changing the autoinhibited conformation of the crossover loop observed in the free Atg7 structure into a short helix and a disordered loop. Mutational analyses suggested that this interaction mode is important for the activation reaction. We propose that Atg7 recognizes Atg8 through multiple steps, which would be necessary to induce a conformational change in Atg7 that is optimal for the activation reaction.     

Economic Integration in Tanzania (1970–2011): A Biophysical Assessment

This article assesses the impact of economic integration on Tanzania's sociometabolic profile for the years 1970–2011, which witnessed an opening and further integration of Tanzania's economy through increased trade and foreign investment, through a time‐series economy‐wide material flows analysis (EW‐MFA). The EW‐MFA results show that contrary to the trade patterns of many developing countries, increased economic integration has resulted in Tanzania becoming a net importer of resources across all material categories when measured by the physical trade balance indicator. Additionally, the article discusses the conceptual and empirical challenges of measuring ecologically unequal exchange with EW‐MFAs for developing countries whose export profiles are dominated by lightweight, high‐value precious stones and metals. It also assesses the degree to which the Tanzanian economy has undergone dematerialization over the past 40 years of economic integration.     

Chiral spin crossover iron(II) complex, fac-Λ-[Fe(HL)3](ClO4)2·EtOH (HL = 2-methylimidazol-4-yl-methylideneamino-R-(+)-1-methylphenyl)

A chiral spin crossover iron(II) complex, fac-Λ-[Fe^II(HL^R)₃](ClO₄)₂·EtOH was synthesized and its crystal structures in both the high-spin (HS) and low-spin (LS) states were determined, where HL^R denotes 2-methylimidazol-4-yl-methylideneamino-R-(+)-1-methylphenyl. The complex assumes octahedral coordination geometry of N₆ donor atoms by three bidentate ligands HL^R. The complex exists as the facial-Λ-isomer of fac-Λ-[Fe^II(HL^R)₃]²⁺ of the possible geometrical fac- and mer-isomers and the Δ- and Λ-enantiomorphs. The X-ray structural analyses revealed that the R-form of the ligand (HL^R) induces the fac-Λ-isomer of fac-Λ-[Fe^II(HL^R)₃]²⁺ and the S-form of the ligand (HL^S) induces the fac-Δ-isomer of fac-Δ-[Fe(HL^S)₃]²⁺. The complex fac-Λ-[Fe^II(HL^R)₃](ClO₄)₂·EtOH shows a complete steep spin crossover between the HS and the LS states at T_1/2 = 195 K.     

Polo-like kinase 1 is required for localization of Posterior End Mark protein to the centrosome-attracting body and unequal cleavages in ascidian embryos

In ascidian embryos, the posterior-localized maternal factor Posterior End Mark (PEM) is responsible for patterning embryos along the anterior-posterior axis with regard to both cleavage pattern involving unequal cell divisions and gene expression. Although PEM plays important roles in embryogenesis, its mechanism of action is still unclear because PEM has no known functional domain. In the present study, we explored the candidate of PEM partner proteins in Halocynthia roretzi using yeast two-hybrid screening. We isolated a homologue of Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1), a key regulator of cell division and highly conserved in eukaryotes, as the first potential binding partner of PEM. We biochemically confirmed that interaction occurred between the Plk1 and PEM proteins. Immunostaining showed that Plk1 protein concentrates in the centrosome-attracting body (CAB) at the posterior pole, where PEM protein is also localized. The CAB is a subcellular structure that plays an important role in generating the posterior cleavage pattern. Plk1 localization to the CAB was dependent on the cell cycle phases during unequal cleavage. Inhibition of Plk1 with specific drugs resulted in failure of the nucleus to migrate towards the posterior pole and formation of a microtubule bundle between the CAB and a centrosome, similarly to inhibition of PEM function, suggesting that both proteins are involved in the same process of unequal cleavages. This interrupted nuclear migration was rescued by overexpression of PEM. In Plk1-inhibited embryos, the localization of PEM protein to the CAB was impaired, indicating that Plk1 is required for appropriate localization of PEM.     

The ground states of iron(III) porphines: role of entropy-enthalpy compensation, Fermi correlation, dispersion, and zero-point energies

Porphyrins are much studied due to their biochemical relevance and many applications. The density functional TPSSh has previously accurately described the energy of close-lying electronic states of transition metal systems such as porphyrins. However, a recent study questioned this conclusion based on calculations of five iron(III) porphines. Here, we compute the geometries of 80 different electronic configurations and the free energies of the most stable configurations with the functionals TPSSh, TPSS, and B3LYP. Zero-point energies and entropy favor high-spin by ~ 4 kJ/mol and 0-10 kJ/mol, respectively. When these effects are included, and all electronic configurations are evaluated, TPSSh correctly predicts the spin of all the four difficult phenylporphine cases and is within the lower bound of uncertainty of any known theoretical method for the fifth, iron(III) chloroporphine. Dispersion computed with DFT-D3 favors low-spin by 3-53 kJ/mol (TPSSh) or 4-15 kJ/mol (B3LYP) due to the attractive r^− 6 term and the shorter distances in low-spin. The very large and diverse corrections from TPSS and TPSSh seem less consistent with the similarity of the systems than when calculated from B3LYP. If the functional-specific corrections are used, B3LYP and TPSSh are of equal accuracy, and TPSS is much worse, whereas if the physically reasonable B3LYP-computed dispersion effect is used for all functionals, TPSSh is accurate for all systems. B3LYP is significantly more accurate when dispersion is added, confirming previous results.