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Topological photonics is a framework that follows both condensed matter physics and topology. It refers to designing the guiding properties of the propagating medium (e.g., a photonic crystal or a waveguide lattice) in such a way that the transport of electromagnetic energy is realized in unique, robust, and sometimes unexpected ways. Consider a simple thought experiment: imagine first the two-dimensional wave equation on a square domain, and assume homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. We know that the accessible modes extend in periodic form throughout the whole domain and, in time, waves can propagate in all directions. This behavior is in response to the inherent symmetries of the medium. Imagine instead that we engineer the medium in such a way that all the energy concentrates in the boundary of the medium and propagates in only one direction. (In the language of optics, this would be seen as inhibiting back reflection and making the bulk medium act like an insulator). 

In the work of Colliander et al. (2020) a minimal lattice model was constructed describing the transfer of energy to high frequencies in the defocusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation. In the present work, we present a systematic study of the coherent structures, both standing and traveling, that arise in the context of this model. We find that the nonlinearly dispersive nature of the model is responsible for standing waves in the form of discrete compactons. On the other hand, analysis of the dynamical features of the simplest nontrivial variant of the model, namely the dimer case, yields both solutions where the intensity is trapped in a single site and solutions where the intensity moves between the two sites, which suggests the possibility of moving excitations in larger lattices. Such excitations are also suggested by the dynamical evolution associated with modulational instability. Our numerical computations confirm this expectation, and we systematically construct such traveling states as exact solutions in lattices of varying size, as well as explore their stability. A remarkable feature of these traveling lattice waves is that they are of ‘‘antidark’’ type, i.e., they are mounted on top of a non-vanishing background. These studies shed light on the existence, stability and dynamics of such standing and traveling states in 1 + 1 dimensions, and pave the way for exploration of corresponding configurations in higher dimensions. 

In the work of Colliander et al. (2020) a minimal lattice model was constructed describing the transfer of energy to high frequencies in the defocusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation. In the present work, we present a systematic study of the coherent structures, both standing and traveling, that arise in the context of this model. We find that the nonlinearly dispersive nature of the model is responsible for standing waves in the form of discrete compactons. On the other hand, analysis of the dynamical features of the simplest nontrivial variant of the model, namely the dimer case, yields both solutions where the intensity is trapped in a single site and solutions where the intensity moves between the two sites, which suggests the possibility of moving excitations in larger lattices. Such excitations are also suggested by the dynamical evolution associated with modulational instability. Our numerical computations confirm this expectation, and we systematically construct such traveling states as exact solutions in lattices of varying size, as well as explore their stability. A remarkable feature of these traveling lattice waves is that they are of ‘‘antidark’’ type, i.e., they are mounted on top of a non-vanishing background. These studies shed light on the existence, stability and dynamics of such standing and traveling states in 1 + 1 dimensions, and pave the way for exploration of corresponding configurations in higher dimensions. 

Yersinia ruckeriproduces the tri-catechol siderophore ruckerbactin, Rb, yet its periplasmic binding protein YiuA has unprecedented selectivity for the 1 : 2 Fe(iii) complex of the mono-catechol siderophore, Fe(iii)–(Rb_MC)₂. 

The vast majority of bacteria require iron to grow. A significant iron acquisition strategy is the production of siderophores, which are secondary microbial metabolites synthesized to sequester iron(III). Siderophore structures encompass a variety of forms, of which highly modified peptidic siderophores are of interest herein. State‐of‐the‐art genome mining tools, such as antiSMASH (antibiotics & Secondary Metabolite Analysis SHell), hold the potential to predict and discover new peptidic siderophores, including a combinatoric suite of triscatechol siderophores framed on a triserine‐ester backbone of the general class, (DHB‐ l / d CAA‐ l Ser) 3 (CAA, cationic amino acid). Siderophores with l / d Arg, l / d Lys and l Orn, but not d Orn, were predicted in bacterial genomes. Fortuitously the d Orn siderophore was identified, yet its lack of prediction highlights the limitation of current genome mining tools. The full combinatoric suite of these siderophores, which form chiral iron(III) complexes, reveals stereospecific coordination chemistry encoded in microbial genomes. The chirality embedded in this suite of Fe(III)‐siderophores raises the question of whether the relevant siderophore‐mediated iron acquisition pathways are stereospecific and selective for ferric siderophore complexes of a defined configuration. 

Ferric complexes of triscatechol siderophores may assume one of two enantiomeric configurations at the iron site. Chirality is known to be important in the iron uptake process, however an understanding of the molecular features directing stereospecific coordination remains ambiguous. Synthesis of the full suite of (DHB L/D Lys L/D Ser) 3 macrolactone diastereomers, which includes the siderophore cyclic trichrysobactin (CTC), enables the effects that the chirality of Lys and Ser residues exert on the configuration of the Fe( iii ) complex to be defined. Computationally optimized geometries indicate that the Λ/Δ configurational preferences are set by steric interactions between the Lys sidechains and the peptide backbone. The ability of each (DHB L/D Lys L/D Ser) 3 diastereomer to form a stable Fe( iii ) complex prompted a genomic search for biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) encoding the synthesis of these diastereomers in microbes. The genome of the plant pathogen Dickeya chrysanthemi EC16 was sequenced and the genes responsible for the biosynthesis of CTC were identified. A related but distinct BGC was identified in the genome of the opportunistic pathogen Yersinia frederiksenii ATCC 33641; isolation of the siderophore from Y. frederiksenii ATCC 33641, named frederiksenibactin (FSB), revealed the triscatechol oligoester, linear -(DHB L Lys L Ser) 3 . Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy establishes that Fe( iii )–CTC and Fe( iii )–FSB are formed in opposite enantiomeric configuration, consistent with the results of the ferric complexes of the cyclic (DHB L/D Lys L/D Ser) 3 diastereomers.