Diversity of metabolite accumulation patterns in inner and outer seed coats of pomegranate:exploring their relationship with genetic mechanisms of seed coat development

The expanded outer seed coat and the rigid inner seed coat of pomegranate seeds,both affect the sensory qualities of the fruit and its acceptability to consumers.Pomegranate seeds are also an appealing model for the study of seed coat differentiation and development.We conducted nontarget metabolic profiling to detect metabolites that contribute to the morphological differentiation of the seed coats along with transcriptomic profiling to unravel the genetic mechanisms underlying this process.Comparisons of metabolites in the lignin biosynthetic pathway accumulating in seed coat layers at different developmental stages revealed that monolignols,including coniferyl alcohol and sinapyl alcohol,greatly accumulated in inner seed coats and monolignol glucosides greatly accumulated in outer seed coats.Strong expression of genes involved in monolignol biosynthesis and transport might explain the spatial patterns of biosynthesis and accumulation of these metabolites.Hemicellulose constituents and flavonoids in particular accumulated in the inner seed coat,and candidate genes that might be involved in their accumulation were also identified.Genes encoding transcription factors regulating monolignol,cellulose,and hemicellulose metabolism were chosen by coexpression analysis.These results provide insights into metabolic factors influencing seed coat differentiation and a reference for studying seed coat developmental biology and pomegranate genetic improvement.

Epidermal self-powered sweat sensors for glucose and lactate monitoring

Sweat could be a carrier of informative biomarkers for health status identification;therefore,wearable sweat sensors have attracted significant attention for research.An external power source is an important component of wearable sensors,however,the current power supplies,i.e.,batteries,limit further shrinking down the size of these devices and thus limit their application areas and scenarios.Herein,we report a stretchable self-powered biosensor with epidermal electronic format that enables the in situ detec-tion of lactate and glucose concentration in sweat.Enzymatic biofuel cells serve as self-powered sensing modules allowing the sweat sensor to exhibit a determination coefficient(R2)of 0.98 with a sensitivity of 2.48 mV/mM for lactate detection,and R2 of 0.96 with a sensitivity of 0.11 mV/μM for glucose detection.The microfluidic channels developed in an ultra-thin soft flexible polydimethylsiloxane layer not only enable the effective collection of sweat,but also provide excellent mechanical properties with stable performance output even under 30%stretching.The presented soft sweat sensors can be integrated at nearly any location of the body for the continuous monitoring of lactate and glucose changes during normal daily activities such as exercise.Our results provide a promising approach to develop next-generation sweat sensors for real-time and in situ sweat analysis.

Stretchable magnesium-air battery based on dual ions conducting hydrogel for intelligent biomedical applications

Flexible and bio-integrated electronics have attracted great attention due to their enormous contributions to personalized medical devices.Power sources,serving as one of the most important components,have been suffering from many problems,including deficient biocompatibility,poor stretchability,and unstable electrical outputs under deformed conditions,which limits the practical applications in flexible and bio-integrated electronics.Here,we reported a fully stretchable magnesium(Mg)–air battery based on dual-ions-conducting hydrogels(SDICH).The high-performance battery enables long-term operation with lighting 120 lighting emitting diodes(LEDs)for over 5 h.Benefiting from the advanced materials and mechanical designs,the battery exhibits stability electrical outputs under stretching,which allows to operate ordinarily under various mechanical deformations without performance decay.Furthermore,the great biocompatibility of the battery offers great opportunity for biomedical applications,which is demonstrated by a self-adaption wound dressing system.The in vitro and in vivo results prove that the self-adaption wound dressing can effectively prevent wound inflammation and promote wound healing.By exploiting thermal feedback mechanics,the system can adjust antibiotic release rate and dosage spontaneously according to the real-time wound conditions.The proposed fully stretchable Mg-air battery and self-adaption wound dressing display great potential in skin-integrated electronics and personalized medicine.

Thin,soft,3D printing enabled crosstalk minimized triboelectric nanogenerator arrays for tactile sensing

With the requirements of self-powering sensors in flexible electronics,wearable triboelectric nanogenerators(TENGs)have attracted great attention due to their advantages of excellent electrical outputs and low-cost processing routes.The crosstalk effect between adjacent sensing units in TENGs significantly limits the pixel density of sensor arrays.Here,we present a skin-integrated,flexible TENG sensor array with 100 sensing units in an overall size of 7.5 cm×7.5 cm that can be processed in a simple,low-cost,and scalable way enabled by 3D printing.All the sensing units show good sensitivity of 0.11 V/kPa with a wide range of pressure detection from 10 to 65 kPa,which allows to accurately distinguish various tactile formats from gentle touching(as low as 2 kPa)to hard pressuring.The 3D printing patterned substrate allows to cast triboelectric layers of polydimethylsiloxane in an independent sensing manner for each unit,which greatly suppresses the cross talk arising from adjacent sensing units,where the maximum crosstalk output is only 10.8%.The excellent uniformity and reproducibility of the sensor array offer precise pressure mapping for complicated pattern loadings,which demonstrates its potential in tactile sensing and human-machine interfaces.

Soft,body conformable electronics for thermoregulation enabled by kirigami

The application of thermoelectric devices(TEDs)for personalized thermoregulation is attractive for saving energy while balancing the quality of life.TEDs that directly attach to human skin remarkably minimized the energy wasted for cooling the entire environment.However,facing the extreme dynamic geometry change and strain of human skin,conventional TEDs cannot align with the contour of our bodies for the best thermoregulation effect.Hence,we designed a kirigami-based wearable TED with excellent water vapor permeability,flexibility,and conformability.Numerical analysis and experimental results reveal that our product can withstand various types of large mechanical deformation without circuit rupture.The stated outcome and proposed facile approach not only reinforce the development of wearable TEDs but also offer an innovative opportunity for different electronics that require high conformability.

Synthesis of hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives as mitochondria-targeted antioxidants and cytotoxic agents

In order to develop agents with superior chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic properties against hepatocellular carcinomas, mitochondria-targeted hydroxycinnamic acids(Mito HCAs) were synthesized by conjugation with a triphenylphosphonium cation. These synthetic compounds were evaluated for their antioxidant activities in hepatic mitochondria, including against OH? àand ROO? àinduced lipid peroxidation. H_2O_2 production was decreased significantly by increasing glutathione peroxidase and catalase activities. In addition, cell proliferation data from three cell lines(HepG2, L02 and WI38) indicated that the Mito HCAs were selective for cancer cells. Interestingly, the Mito HCAs both with or without Ca^(2+)triggered mitochondrial dysfunction by inducing mitochondrial swelling, collapsing the mitochondrial membrane potential and causing cytochrome c release. In particular, an inhibitor of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore(m PTP), cyclosporin A, attenuated mitochondrial damage and cell apoptosis, indicating that m PTP may be involved in the antiproliferative activity of Mito HCAs.Further studies focused on structural optimization of these compounds are onging.

Garment embedded sweat-activated batteries in wearable electronics for continuous sweat monitoring

Thin,soft,and skin-integrated electronic system has great advantages for realizing continuous human healthcare monitoring.Here,we report an ultra-thin,flexible,and garment-based microelectronics powered by sweat-activated batteries(SABs)and applications of powering biosensors and microelectronic systems for real time sweat monitoring.The SAB cell is ultra-thin(1.25 mm)with excellent biocompatibility.The SAB has good electricity output with high capacity(14.33 mAh)and maximum power density(3.17 mW cm^(−2))after being activated by the sweat volume of 0.045 mL cm^(−2),which could continuously power 120 light emitting diodes over 3 h.The outputs could maintain stable after repeatable bending.Wireless microelectronics system could be continuously powered by the SABs for 3 h to monitor sweat and physiological information,including sweat Na+concentration,pH,and skin impedance.The reported integrated system provides a potential for solving the power issues of flexible wearable electronics and realizing personalized medicine.