Chirally assembled plasmonic metamolecules from intrinsically chiral nanoparticles

Significant chiroptical responses could be generated by chiral coupling of achiral plasmonic nanoparticles,or originated from intrinsically chiral plasmonic nanoparticles.Here we create dimeric plasmonic metamolecules possessing both chiral coupling between nanoparticles and intrinsic chiroptical responses derived from nanoparticles themselves.These plasmonic metamolecules are prepared by assembling helical plasmonic nanorods(HPNRs)with intrinsic chirality in chiral manners on DNA origami template.Two HPNRs with the same or opposite chirality,or one HPNR and one achiral gold nanorod,are coupled chirally into dimeric metamolecules with intriguing plasmonic circular dichroism(PCD).We found that both of the intrinsic chirality of constituent HPNRs and the chiral coupling contribute to the overall PCD while their weights are different in different metamolecules and vary in different wavelength range for a certain metamolecule.Comparing to conventional chiral plasmonic metamolecules from achiral nanoparticles,or discrete chiral nanoparticles,these metamolecules bring more dimensions for tailoring chiroptical responses and make it more flexible to design plasmonic nanodevices with custom PCD.

The terpene synthase(TPS)gene family in kiwifruit shows high functional redundancy and a subset of TPS likely fulfil overlapping functions in fruit flavour,floral bouquet and defence

Volatile terpenes are important compounds that influence fruit flavour and aroma of kiwifruit.Terpenes in plants also impact on the floral bouquet and defence against pests and pathogens in leaves and fruit.To better understand the overlapping roles that terpenes may fulfil in plants,a systematic gene,chemical and biochemical analysis of terpenes and terpene synthases(TPS)was undertaken in Red5 kiwifruit(Actinidia spp.).Analysis of the Red5 genome shows it contains only 22 TPS gene models,of which fifteen encode full-length TPS.Thirteen TPS can account for the major terpene volatiles produced in different tissues of Red5 kiwifruit and in response to different stimuli.The small Red5 TPS family displays surprisingly high functional redundancy with five TPS producing linalool/nerolidol.Treatment of leaves and fruit with methyl jasmonate enhanced expression of a subset of defence-related TPS genes and stimulated the release of terpenes.Six TPS genes were induced upon herbivory of leaves by the economically important insect pest Ctenopseustis obliquana(brown-headed leaf roller)and emission,but not accumulation,of(E)-and(Z)-nerolidol was strongly linked to herbivory.Our results provide a framework to understand the overlapping biological and ecological roles of terpenes in Actinidia and other horticultural crops.