Parental breeding age effects on descendants' longevity interact over 2 generations in matrilines and patrilines

Individuals within populations vary enormously in mortality risk and longevity, but the causes of this variation remain poorly understood. A potentially important and phylogenetically widespread source of such variation is maternal age at breeding, which typically has negative effects on offspring longevity. Here, we show that paternal age can affect offspring longevity as strongly as maternal age does and that breeding age effects can interact over 2 generations in both matrilines and patrilines. We manipulated maternal and paternal ages at breeding over 2 generations in the neriid fly Telostylinus angusticollis. To determine whether breeding age effects can be modulated by the environment, we also manipulated larval diet and male competitive environment in the first generation. We found separate and interactive effects of parental and grand-parental ages at breeding on descendants' mortality rate and life span in both matrilines and patrilines. These breeding age effects were not modulated by grand-parental larval diet quality or competitive environment. Our findings suggest that variation in maternal and paternal ages at breeding could contribute substantially to intrapopulation variation in mortality and longevity

Organometallics roundtable 2011

An edited transcript of the discussions at the Organometallics Roundtable 2011 held on August 29, 2011 is presented. Jennifer Schomaker says that she would like to have a broader range of high-valent metal oxo complexes that contain easily tunable non-porphyrin ligands. Jim Mayer was thinking more about pure and simple chemical stability. People are doing reactions at higher temperatures and under more forcing conditions, with more stable ligands, such as the pincer ligands having been developed by Alan Goldman, Jensen and Kaska, and Brookhart. Vy Dong says that his students had a debate regarding this very question last year, and they chose the Mo-catalyzed Z-selective olefin metathesis reaction developed by Amir Hoveyda and Richard Schrock as the top achievement in organometallic chemistry last year. There are many exciting aspects of that work. For one, the complex itself has a unique structure, bearing a pyrrolide, a tunable imido, and an axially chiral binol-derived ligand.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Using nature’s blueprint to expand catalysis with Earth-abundant metals

Numerous redox transformations that are essential to life are catalyzed by metalloenzymes that feature Earth-abundant metals. In contrast, platinum-group metals have been the cornerstone of many industrial catalytic reactions for decades, providing high activity, thermal stability, and tolerance to chemical poisons. We assert that nature's blueprint provides the fundamental principles for vastly expanding the use of abundant metals in catalysis. We highlight the key physical properties of abundant metals that distinguish them from precious metals, and we look to nature to understand how the inherent attributes of abundant metals can be embraced to produce highly efficient catalysts for reactions crucial to the sustainable production and transformation of fuels and chemicals