A Microphase-Separated Design toward an All-Round Ionic Hydrogel with Discriminable and Anti-Disturbance Multisensory Functions.

Stretchable ionic hydrogels with superior all-round properties that can detect multimodal sensations with excellent discriminability and robustness against external disturbances are highly required for artificial electronic skinapplications. However, some critical material parameters exhibit intrinsic tradeoffs with each other for most ionic hydrogels. Here, a microphase-separated hydrogel is demonstrated by combining three strategies: (1) using of a low crosslinker/monomer ratio to obtain highly entangled polymer chains as the first network; (2) the introduction of zwitterions into the first network; (3) the synthesis of an ultrasoft polyelectrolyte as the second network. This all-round elastic ionic hydrogel exhibits a low Young's modulus (< 60 kPa), large stretchability (> 900%), high resilience (> 95%), unique strain-stiffening behavior, excellent fatigue tolerance, high ionic conductivity (> 2.0 S m⁻1), and anti-freezing capability, which have not been achieved before. These properties allow the ionic hydrogel to operate as a stretchable multimodal sensor that can detect and decouple multiple stimuli (temperature, pressure, and proximity) with excellent discriminability, high sensitivity, and strong sensing-robustness against strains or temperature perturbations. The ionic hydrogel sensor exhibits great potential for intelligent electronic skin applications such as reliable health monitoring and accurate object identification.

Antibody-Free Fluorine-Assisted Metabolic Sequencing of RNA N4-Acetylcytidine.

N4-Acetylcytidine (ac4C) has been found to affect a variety of cellular and biological processes. For a mechanistic understanding of the roles of ac4C in biology and disease, we present an antibody-free, fluorine-assisted metabolic sequencing method to detect RNA ac4C, called "FAM-seq". We successfully applied FAM-seq to profile ac4C landscapes in human 293T, HeLa, and MDA cell lines in parallel with the reported acRIP-seq method. By comparison with the classic ac4C antibody sequencing method, we found that FAM-seq is a convenient and reliable method for transcriptome-wide mapping of ac4C. Because this method holds promise for detecting nascent RNA ac4C modifications, we further investigated the role of ac4C in regulating chemotherapy drug resistance in chronic myeloid leukemia. The results indicated that drug development or combination therapy could be enhanced by appreciating the key role of ac4C modification in cancer therapy.

The plastid genome of Herpetospermum pedunculosum (Cucurbitaceae), an endangered traditional Tibetan medicinal herbs.

Herpetospermum pedunculosum (Ser.) C. B. Clarke is an important traditional Tibetan medicinal plants in the genus of Herpetospermum, Cucurbitaceae. To better determine its phylogenetic location with respect to the other Cucurbitaceae species, the complete plastome of H. pedunculosum will be reported, which is the first species with plastid genome sequence in the genus of Herpetospermum. Its whole genome is 156,531 bp in length, consisting of a pair of inverted repeats (IRs) of 26,147 bp, one large single-copy (LSC) region of 85,878 bp, and one small single-copy (SSC) region of 18,359 bp. There are 128 genes, including 83 protein-coding genes, 36 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and 8 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes in the plastome. Phylogenetic analysis based on 13 complete plastomes of Cucurbitaceae species showed sisterhood of H. pedunculosum and a clade containing Trichosanthes kirilowii and Hodgsonia macrocarpa, suggesting the close relationship between tribe Schizopeponeae and tribe Sicyoeae in the family Cucurbitaceae.

The plastid genome of a spice plants Cinnamomum glanduliferum in Tibet (Lauraceae).

Cinnamomum glanduliferum (Wall) Meissn is a commercially important timber tree and wild spice plants of the genus Cinnamomum Trew in the family Lauraceae. To determine its phylogenetic location with respect to the other Cinnamomum species, the complete plastid genome of C. glanduliferum was sequenced. The whole plastome is 152,715 bp in length, consisting of a pair of inverted repeat (IR) regions of 20,114 bp, one large single copy (LSC) region of 93,617 bp, and one small single copy (SSC) region of 18,870 bp. The overall GC content of the whole plastome is 39.1%. Further, maximum likelihood phylogenetic analyse was conducted using 13 complete plastomes of the Lauraceae, which support close relationship between C. glanduliferum and C. bodinieri.

The plastid genome of a tropical tree Alseodaphne petiolaris (Lauraceae).

Alseodaphne petiolaris Hook.f. is a valuable timber tree of the genus Alseodaphne Nees in the family Lauraceae. To better determine its phylogenetic location with respect to the other Alseodaphne species, the complete plastid genome of A. petiolaris was sequenced. The whole plastome is 152,986 bp in length, consisting of a pair of inverted repeat (IR) regions of 20,108 bp, one large single copy (LSC) region of 93,863 bp, and one small single copy (SSC) region of 18,907 bp. The overall GC content of the whole plastome is 39.1%. Further, maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analyse was conducted using 15 complete plastomes of the Lauraceae, which support the close relationship between A. petiolaris and the species of Machilus and Phoebe.