Essential oil in four cultivars fruits of Amomum tsao-ko were extracted and determined by the method of gas chromatography (GC) and GC-coupled mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The essential oils content of 86.50%, 77.05%, 83.02% and 77.50% were achieved in the four cultivars of Ellipse, Fusiform, Spherical, and Conical A. tsao-ko fruits, respectively. The results showed that the identified major common components of the essential oil are 1,8-cineole, citral, α-terpineol, α-phellandrene, α-pinene, β-pinene, γ-terpinen, and nerolidol, the most abundant component is 1,8-cineole which accounts for about 36% in all four cultivars and it may be useful for industrial exploitation as well as chemotaxonomic characterization. The results also indicated that the four A. tsao-ko fruit cultivars belong to eucalyptol-rich type and the observed chemical variability between the studied species and cultivars seems to results from the gengtic variability.

Platinum-based material is the most efficient and durable electrocatalyst for motivating the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in an acidic electrolyte; however, its low abundance and high cost limit its further application in proton-exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) technology. Therefore, minimizing the Pt amount while retaining high activity would be desirable. Herein, we use defect-rich W 18 O 49 nanowires to anchor well-dispersed, ultrafine Pt species (Pt-W 18 O 49 ) via a freeze-drying method to avoid aggregation, further mediating an efficient and durable HER in acidic water. Density functional theory analyses also demonstrate that the strong electronic interaction between the Pt species and W 18 O 49 support greatly improves the HER performance. With a 1/10 Pt loading amount of the commercial 20 wt% Pt/C, the Pt-W 18 O 49 catalyst requires the overpotentials of 116 and 743 mV to achieve high current densities of 100 and 1000 mA cm −2 in 0.5 mol L −1 H 2 SO 4 , outperforming those of the 20 wt% Pt/C benchmark. More importantly, the Pt-W 18 O 49 catalyst can sustain a high-currentdensity HER at 500 mA cm −2 for more than 38 h without obvious degradation. This work paves a new avenue for synergistically reducing the Pt amount and retaining high activity for real-world PEMWE.

Dactylicapnos scandens (D. Don) Hutch (Papaveraceae) is a well-known traditional Chinese herb used for treatment of hypertension, inflammation, bleeding and pain for centuries. Although the major bioactive components in this herb are considered as isoquinoline alkaloids (IQAs), little is known about molecular basis of their biosynthesis. Here, we carried out transcriptomic analysis of roots, leaves and stems of D. scandens, and obtained a total of 96,741 unigenes. Based on gene expression and phylogenetic relationship, we proposed the biosynthetic pathways of isocorydine, corydine, glaucine and sinomenine, and identified 67 unigenes encoding enzymes potentially involved in biosynthesis of IQAs in D. scandens. High performance liquid chromatography analysis demonstrated that while isocorydine is the most abundant IQA in D. scandens, the last O-methylation biosynthesis step remains unclear. Further enzyme activity assay, for the first time, characterized a gene encoding O- methyltransferase (DsOMT), which catalyzes O-methylation at C7 of (S)-corytuberine to form isocorydine. We also identified candidate transcription factor genes belonging to WRKY and bHLH families that may be involved in the regulation of IQAs biosynthesis. Taken together, we first provided valuable genetic information for D. scandens, shedding light on candidate genes involved in IQA biosynthesis, which will be critical for further gene functional characterization.

The genus Panax is a valuable natural medicinal source used worldwide that contains high levels of triterpenoid saponins with extensive pharmacological activities. In past decades, molecular biotechnology and breeding techniques have been respectively used to generate omics data and information on cultivars primarily from Panax ginseng (ginseng), Panax quinquefolium (American ginseng), and Panax notoginseng (Sanqi) to biosynthesize valuable saponins, improve product quality, and conduct cost-controlled cultivation. Although much data have been produced, there are concerns that redundant data might be generated and that relatively scattered data might be overlooked. Therefore, many scientists desire a reliable, comprehensive omics database of the Panax genus that could save time and promote integrated analysis. Therefore, to provide all-inclusive, reliable, and valuable information on the Panax genus, PanaxGDB, an open comprehensive database that integrates data on omics and information on varieties, was established. The database contains information on nearly 600 compounds from 12 Panax species, draft genomic sequences with annotations and gene expression levels, single nucleotide polymorphisms, genome-wide association analysis based on agronomic traits, globally collected germplasm information, summaries, omics data of the Panax genus, and online versatile analytic tools. The Panax genus database will be updated when new data are released to continue serving as a central portal to boost research on the biology and functions of Panax. PanaxGDB is available at: http://panaxGDB.ynau.edu.cn.