A Comparative Analysis of the Chloroplast Genomes of Four Salvia Medicinal Plants

Herbgenomics is an emerging field of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)research and development.By combining TCM research with genomics,herbgenomics can help to establish the scientific validity of TCM and bring it into wider usage within the field of medicine.Salvia Linn.(S.Linn.)is a large genus of Labiatae that includes important medicinal plants.In this herbgenomics study,the complete chloroplast(cp)genomes of two Salvia spp.—namely,S.przewalskii and S.bulleyana,which are used as a surrogate for S.miltiorrhiza—were sequenced and compared with those of two other reported Salvia spp.—namely,S.miltiorrhiza and S.japonica.The genome organization,gene number,type,and repeat sequences were compared.The annotation results showed that both Salvia plants contain 114 unique genes,including 80 protein-coding,30 transfer RNA(tRNA),and four ribosomal RNA(rRNA)genes.Repeat sequence analysis revealed 21 forward and 22 palindromic sequences in both Salvia cp genomes,and 17 and 21 tandem repeats in S.przewalskii and S.bulleyana,respectively.A synteny comparison of the Salvia spp.cp genomes showed a high degree of sequence similarity in the coding regions and a relatively high divergence of the intergenic spacers.Pairwise alignment and single-nucleotide polymorphism(SNP)analyses found some candidate fragments to identify Salvia spp.,such as the intergenic region of the trnV–ndhC,trnQ–rps16,atpI–atpH,psbA–ycf3,ycf1,rpoC2,ndhF,matK,rpoB,rpoA,and accD genes.All of the results—including the repeat sequences and SNP sites,the inverted repeat(IR)region border,and the phylogenetic analysis—showed that S.przewalskii and S.bulleyana are extremely similar from a genetic standpoint.The cp genome sequences of the two Salvia spp.reported here will pave the way for breeding,species identification,phylogenetic evolution,and cp genetic engineering studies of Salvia medicinal plants.

Seasonal variations in the plant diet of the Chinese Monal revealed by fecal DNA metabarcoding analysis

The Chinese Monal(Lophophorus thuysii)is an alpine-obligate galliform species of global conservation priority.It has been listed as a first class protected wildlife species in China,requiring conservation actions during the 14 th Five-Year Plan period.However,the diet composition of Chinese Monal and its seasonal variations have rarely been studied,constraining the effective conservation of the species.Here,we investigated the plant diet composition of the Chinese Monal and its seasonal variations using a DNA metabarcoding approach on fecal samples.We collected 190 fecal samples of the Chinese Monals from the central Qionglai Mountains located in China,and analyzed the plant diet of this species using a DNA metabarcoding approach.Taxonomic profiling of higher plants in the fecal samples was performed using the second internal transcribed spacer(ITS2)amplicon.Downstream analyses,including rarefaction curves,nonmetric multidimensional scaling(NMDS)and permutational multivariate analysis of variance(PERMANOVA),were used to explore the seasonal variations in diet composition.The Chinese Monal foraged a wide range of plant recipes composed of 35 families and 83 genera throughout the year,with Brassicaceae,Apiaceae,and Poaceae as the dominant families,and Cardamine as the dominant genus.The species consumed plants from 62 genera from 28 families during the breeding season(n=81)and 66 genera from 31 families during the non-breeding season(n=109).Further,the plant diet composition significantly varied between the breeding and non-breeding seasons,especially for the frequency of occurrence and relative read abundances at genus level.Our study analyzed the plant diet of the Chinese Monal at a high resolution for the first time,and the results revealed that the seasonal variations in its plant diet composition was adapted to plant phenology and foraging strategy.Fritillaria species,a previously confirmed important food resource for the Chinese Monal,were not detected in any fecal samples,potentially due to overharvesting of Fritillaria bulbs for Traditional Chinese Medicine.Therefore,we highly recommend further restriction of herb gathering in Chinese Monal habitats to facilitate the conservation of this endangered species.Altogether,our study enriches essential ecological information for the Chinese Monal and also provides insights into conservation management for this endangered species.

Early Cretaceous subduction initiation beneath southern Tibet caused the northward flight of India

Collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates formed the ~2500 km long Yarlung Zangbo Suture Zone and produced the Himalaya mountains and Tibetan plateau.Here we offer a new explanation for tectonic events leading to this collision:that the northward flight of India was caused by an Early Cretaceous episode of subduction initiation on the southern margin of Tibet.Compiled data for ophiolites along the Yarlung Zangbo Suture Zone show restricted ages between 120 Ma and 130 Ma,and their supra-subduction zone affinities are best explained by seafloor spreading in what became the forearc of a north-dipping subduction zone on the southern margin of Tibet.The subsequent evolution of this new subduction zone is revealed by integrating data for arcrelated igneous rocks of the Lhasa terrane and Xigaze forearc basin deposits.Strong slab pull from this new subduction zone triggered the rifting of India from East Gondwana in Early Cretaceous time and pulled it northward to collide with Tibet in Early Paleogene time.

Revisiting the gravity laws of inter-city mobility in megacity regions

Inter-city mobility is one of the most important issues in the UN Sustainable Development Goals,as it is essential to access the regional labour market,goods and services,and to constrain the spread of infectious diseases.Although the gravity model has been proved to be an effective model to describe mobility among settlements,knowledge is still insufficient in regions where dozens of megacities interact closely and over 100 million people reside.In addition,the existing knowledge is limited to overall population mobility,while the difference in inter-city travel with different purposes is unexplored on such a large geographic scale.We revisited the gravity laws of inter-city mobility using the 2.12 billion trip chains recorded by 40.48 million mobile phone users’trajectories in the Jing-Jin-Ji Region,which contains China’s capital Beijing.Firstly,unlike previous studies,we found that non-commuting rather than commuting is the dominant type of inter-city mobility(89.3%).Noncommuting travellers have a travel distance 42.3%longer than commuting travellers.Secondly,we developed more accurate gravity models for the spatial distribution of inter-city commuting and non-commuting travel.We also found that inter-city mobility has a hierarchical structure,as the distribution of inter-city travel volume follows Zipf’s law.In particular,the hierarchy of non-commuting travel volume among the cities is more in line with an ideal Zipf distribution than commuting travel.Our findings contribute to new knowledge on basic inter-city mobility laws,and they have significant applications for regional policies on human mobility.

Genomic,transcriptomic,and epigenomic analysis of a medicinal snake,Bungarus multicinctus,to provides insights into the origin of Elapidae neurotoxins

The many-banded krait,Bungarus multicinctus,has been recorded as the animal resource of JinQianBaiHuaShe in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia.Characterization of its venoms classified chief phyla of modern animal neurotoxins.However,the evolutionary origin and diversification of its neurotoxins as well as biosynthesis of its active compounds remain largely unknown due to the lack of its high-quality genome.Here,we present the 1.58 Gbp genome of B.multicinctus assembled into 18 chromosomes with contig/scaffold N50 of 7.53 Mbp/149.8 Mbp.Major bungarotoxin-coding genes were clustered within genome by family and found to be associated with ancient local duplications.The truncation of glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor in the 3'-terminal of a LY6E paralog released modern three-finger toxins(3FTxs)from membrane tethering before the Colubroidea divergence.Subsequent expansion and mutations diversified and recruited these 3FTxs.After the cobra/krait divergence,the modern unit-B ofβ-bungarotoxin emerged with an extra cysteine residue.A subsequent point substitution in unit-A enabled theβ-bungarotoxin covalent linkage.The B.multicinctus gene expression,chromatin topological organization,and histone modification characteristics were featured by transcriptome,proteome,chromatin conformation capture sequencing,and ChIP-seq.The results highlighted that venom production was under a sophisticated regulation.Our findings provide new insights into snake neurotoxin research,meanwhile will facilitate antivenom development,toxin-driven drug discovery and the quality control of JinQianBaiHuaShe.

Realizing the Long Lifespan of Molybdenum Trioxide in Aqueous Aluminum Ion Batteries Through Potential Regulation

MoO_(3) is one of the most promising anode materials for aqueous aluminum batteries due to its high theoretical capacity and suitable aluminum insertion/de-insertion potential.However,the inferior cycling stability limits its further application,and the failure mechanism is still unclear.In this article,we provide a straightforward potential regulation technique to manage phase evolution during the charge/discharge process,which ultimately results in a markedly enhanced MoO_(3) electrode cycling stability.The failure mechanism study reveals that the excessive oxidation of the electrode during charge/discharge generates the H_(0.34)MoO_(3) phase,which has high solubility and is the primary cause of MoO_(3) deactivation.Although the dissolved Mo species will be deposited onto the electrode sheet again,the deposition is not electrochemically active and cannot contribute to the capacitance.Controlling the cutoff potential prevented the production of H_(0.34)MoO_(3),resulting in excellent cycling performance(80.1% capacity retention after 4000 cycles).The as-assembled α-MoO_(3)//MnO_(2) full battery exhibits high discharge plateaus(1.4 and 0.9 V),large specific capacity(200 mAhg^(-1) at 2 Ag^(-1)),and ultra-high coulombic efficiency(99%).The research presented here may contribute to the development of highly stable electrode materials for aqueous batteries.

Herbgenomics: A stepping stone for research into herbal medicine

From the prehistoric era until the publishing of the Compendium of Materia Medica and the first scientific Nobel Prize in the Chinese mainland for Tu's discovery on anti-malarial tablets,each milestone and stepping stone in the developmental history of herbal medicine involved intrepid exploration,bold hypothesis formulation,and cautious verification.After thousands of years of discovery and development,herbal research has entered a new era—the era of herbgenomics.Herbgenomics combines herbal and genomic research,bridging the gap between traditional herbal medicine and cutting-edge omics studies.Therefore,it provides a general picture of the genetic background of traditional herbs,enabling researchers to investigate the mechanisms underlying the prevention and treatment of human diseases from an omics perspective.

Global Pharmacopoeia Genome Database is an integrated and mineable genomic database for traditional medicines derived from eight international pharmacopoeias

Genomic data have demonstrated considerable traction in accelerating contemporary studies in traditional medicine. However,the lack of a uniform format and dispersed storage limits the full potential of herb genomic data. In this study, we developed a Global Pharmacopoeia Genome Database(GPGD). The database contains 34,346 records for 903 herb species from eight global pharmacopoeias(Brazilian, Egyptian, European, Indian, Japanese, Korean, the Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China, and U.S. Pharmacopoeia’s Herbal Medicines Compendium). In particular, the GPGD contains 21,872 DNA barcodes from 867 species, 2,203 organelle genomes from 674 species, 55 whole genomes from 49 species, 534 genomic sequencing datasets from 366 species, and 9,682 transcriptome datasets from 350 species. Among the organelle genomes, 534 genomes from 366 species were newly generated in this study. Whole genomes, organelle genomes, genomic fragments, transcriptomes, and DNA barcodes were uniformly formatted and arranged by species. The GPGD is publicly accessible at http://www.gpgenome.com and serves as an essential resource for species identification, decomposition of biosynthetic pathways, and molecular-assisted breeding analysis. Thus, the database is an invaluable resource for future studies on herbal medicine safety, drug discovery, and the protection and rational use of herbal resources.

50th anniversary of artemisinin:From the discovery to allele-aware genome assembly of Artemisia annua

Over the past half century,the fight against malaria has been a resounding success mainlydue to thediscoveryof artemisinin.According to the World Health Organization(WHO),morbidity and mortality due to malaria have been cut by half since the promotion of artemisinin-based combination therapy(WHO,2020).

基于铝离子与–NH基团相互作用的高性能铝-聚苯胺电池

铝离子电池作为一种高容量、高电荷转移率、低成本和高安全性的储能器件具有良好的应用前景.但是,阴极材料的电化学性能限制了铝离子电池的进一步发展,例如目前研究最多的石墨类电极材料容量较低,而过渡金属氧族化合物电极材料的循环稳定性相对较差.本论文根据第一性原理的计算结果,开发出一种聚苯胺/氧化石墨烯复合材料,该复合材料作为铝离子电池阴极材料表现出极为出色的电化学性能(4000次循环后比容量依然能维持180 mA hg^-1).多种非原位表征实验证明,在充电过程中聚苯胺通过其–NH基团与电解质阴离子(如AlCl4^-)之间的适度相互作用进行电荷存储.本研究为基于导电聚合物正极材料的高性能铝离子电池的发展奠定了基础.

在宽电压窗口下实现高能量密度和超长循环寿命的双碳基锂离子电容器

从储能器件应用前景来看,正负两极使用同一前驱体来制备可以简化工艺过程,显著降低储能器件的成本.在本论文中,我们由单一前驱体——石油焦来制备活性材料并将其组装成了双碳基锂离子电容器.对于负极,通过简单的球磨和碳化工艺制备了石油焦衍生碳(PCC样品),该碳材料具有较大的压实密度(1.80 g cm^(-3))和高电导率(11.5 S cm^(-1)).对于正极,前驱体经氢氧化钾活化(PC-AC样品),获得了良好的孔隙结构,以满足快速电容行为.结果表明,在宽电压窗口下,组装的双碳基锂离子电容器具有良好的结构稳定性,高能量密度(231 W h kg^(-1)/206 W h L^(-1))和超长循环寿命(高达10,000次循环).石油焦衍生的碳材料具有良好的电化学响应性和简单的生产工艺,因而实际应用潜力巨大.

Legacy of Hongxi Su:Pioneer of Chinese Cardiosurgery

Prof.Hongxi Su(苏鸿熙)was born in Tongshan,Jiangsu Province,in January of 1915(Fig.1).He is the pioneer of Chinese cardiosurgery and one of the most renowned Chinese cardiothoracic surgeons,performing the first successful intracardiac surgery under extracorporeal circulation,as well as applying artificial blood vessels in aortic-carotid artery bypass surgery,shaping the cardiosurgery landscape of China.