Iron homeostasis is highly regulated in organisms across evolutionary time scale as iron is essential for various cellular processes. In a computational screen, we identified the Yap/bZIP domain family in Candida clade genomes. Cap2/Hap43 is essential for C. albicans growth under iron-deprivation conditions and for virulence in mouse. Cap2 has an amino-terminal bipartite domain comprising a fungal-specific Hap4-like domain and a bZIP domain. Our mutational analyses showed that both the bZIP and Hap4-like domains perform critical and independent functions for growth under iron-deprivation conditions. Transcriptome analysis conducted under iron-deprivation conditions identified about 16% of the C. albicans ORFs that were differentially regulated in a Cap2-dependent manner. Microarray data also suggested that Cap2 is required to mobilize iron through multiple mechanisms; chiefly by activation of genes in three iron uptake pathways and repression of iron utilizing and iron storage genes. The expression of HAP2, HAP32, and HAP5, core components of the HAP regulatory complex was induced in a Cap2-dependent manner indicating a feed-forward loop. In a feed-back loop, Cap2 repressed the expression of Sfu1, a negative regulator of iron uptake genes. Cap2 was coimmunoprecipitated with Hap5 from cell extracts prepared from iron-deprivation conditions indicating an in vivo association. ChIP assays demonstrated Hap32-dependent recruitment of Hap5 to the promoters of FRP1 (Cap2-induced) and ACO1 (Cap2-repressed). Together our data indicates that the Cap2-HAP complex functions both as a positive and a negative regulator to maintain iron homeostasis in C. albicans.

Aging is often perceived as a degenerative process caused by random accrual of cellular damage over time. In spite of this, age can be accurately estimated by epigenetic clocks based on DNA methylation profiles from almost any tissue of the body. Since such pan-tissue epigenetic clocks have been successfully developed for several different species, it is difficult to ignore the likelihood that a defined and shared mechanism instead, underlies the aging process. To address this, we generated 10,000 methylation arrays, each profiling up to 37,000 cytosines in highly-conserved stretches of DNA, from over 59 tissue-types derived from 128 mammalian species. From these, we identified and characterized specific cytosines, whose methylation levels change with age across mammalian species. Genes associated with these cytosines are greatly enriched in mammalian developmental processes and implicated in age-associated diseases. From the methylation profiles of these age-related cytosines, we successfully constructed three highly accurate universal mammalian clocks for eutherians, and one universal clock for marsupials. The universal clocks for eutherians are similarly accurate for estimating ages (r>0.96) of any mammalian species and tissue with a single mathematical formula. Collectively, these new observations support the notion that aging is indeed evolutionarily conserved and coupled to developmental processes across all mammalian species - a notion that was long-debated without the benefit of this new and compelling evidence.

The scholastic significance of supramolecular chemistry continues to grow with the recent development of catalytic transformations in confined space of supramolecular architectures. It has come a long way from a natural cavity containing molecules to modern smart materials capable of manipulating reaction pathways. The rise of self-assembled coordination complexes provided a diverse array of host structures. Starting from purely organic compounds to metalloligand surrogates, supramolecular host cavities were tuned according to the requirement of the reactions. The understanding of their participation in a reaction led to better usage of those assemblies for specific reaction sequences. Commencing from cyclodextrin, a wide range of organic molecules was used for cage-catalyzed organic transformations. However, difficulties in synthesis and a tedious purification procedure led chemists to choose a different pathway of metal-ligand coordination-driven self-assembly. The latter stood out as a potential replacement of the organic cages, overcoming the previous drawbacks. In the glut of different transition-metal assemblies used for catalytic transformations, many of them showed chemo- and stereoselective products. However, the small cavity size in some of them led to premature failure of the reaction. In that context, "molecular barrels" showed good efficacy for the catalytic reaction sequence. The large cavity size and bigger orifice for intake of the substrate and easy release of the product made them a better choice for catalysis. Additionally these are mostly used in aqueous media, which reinforces the idea of green and environmentally nonhazardous chemistry. In this Viewpoint, we discuss the use of metal-ligand coordination-driven self-assembled molecular containers used for catalysis with special emphasis on molecular barrels. This paper built on existing literature provides a thorough development of the fertile ground of the coordination architecture for catalysis and its future direction of propagation.

Aging, often considered a result of random cellular damage, can be accurately estimated using DNA methylation profiles, the foundation of pan-tissue epigenetic clocks. Here, we demonstrate the development of universal pan-mammalian clocks, using 11,754 methylation arrays from our Mammalian Methylation Consortium, which encompass 59 tissue types across 185 mammalian species. These predictive models estimate mammalian tissue age with high accuracy (r > 0.96). Age deviations correlate with human mortality risk, mouse somatotropic axis mutations and caloric restriction. We identified specific cytosines with methylation levels that change with age across numerous species. These sites, highly enriched in polycomb repressive complex 2-binding locations, are near genes implicated in mammalian development, cancer, obesity and longevity. Our findings offer new evidence suggesting that aging is evolutionarily conserved and intertwined with developmental processes across all mammals.

The artificial nucleobases 6-(2'-thienyl)-purine (6TP) and 6-(2'-furyl)-purine (6FP) have been investigated in terms of their applicability in metal-mediated base pairs. In principle, these nucleobases should be capable of providing an S,N- and O,N-coordination environment, respectively. Two metal complexes have been synthesized and structurally characterized, using the N9-methylated derivatives of 6TP and 6FP as model nucleobases. The silver(I) complex [Ag(9-Me6TP)(CH3CN)(NO3)]n is of polymeric nature. The thienyl substituent is not involved in metal binding. In contrast, the dinuclear copper(II) complex [Cu(9-Me6FP)Cl2(OH2)]2 clearly shows that the furyl substituent can participate in the coordination of the metal ion. Oligonucleotide double helices comprising a 6TP:6TP or a 6FP:6FP mispair are slightly stabilized in the presence of silver(I). However, a distinction between the formation of a metal-mediated base pair and an unspecific binding event cannot be finally made. Based on these studies, it is proposed that the formation of Hoogsteen-type metal-mediated base pairs should be the more promising alternative compared with the originally anticipated Watson-Crick-type metal-mediated base pairs.