The pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) genome provides insights into fruit quality and ovule developmental biology.

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) has an ancient cultivation history and has become an emerging profitable fruit crop due to its attractive features such as the bright red appearance and the high abundance of medicinally valuable ellagitannin-based compounds in its peel and aril. However, the limited genomic resources have restricted further elucidation of genetics and evolution of these interesting traits. Here, we report a 274-Mb high-quality draft pomegranate genome sequence, which covers approximately 81.5% of the estimated 336-Mb genome, consists of 2177 scaffolds with an N50 size of 1.7 Mb and contains 30 903 genes. Phylogenomic analysis supported that pomegranate belongs to the Lythraceae family rather than the monogeneric Punicaceae family, and comparative analyses showed that pomegranate and Eucalyptus grandis share the paleotetraploidy event. Integrated genomic and transcriptomic analyses provided insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the biosynthesis of ellagitannin-based compounds, the colour formation in both peels and arils during pomegranate fruit development, and the unique ovule development processes that are characteristic of pomegranate. This genome sequence provides an important resource to expand our understanding of some unique biological processes and to facilitate both comparative biology studies and crop breeding.

Effects of Graphene on Germination and Seedling Morphology in Rice.

The effects of graphene on the germination and growth of rice seeds were studied. Seeds were treated with graphene solutions at different concentrations. Obvious delaying effects on the germination rate were observed with the increasing of graphene concentration. The growth of radicle and plumule was inhibited. And also, the morphology (root length, stem length, adventitious number, root fresh weight, fresh weight of over ground part and root cap ratio) of rice seedlings was certainly affected. After been treated by different concentrations of graphene for 16 d, promoting effects on adventitious root number, root fresh weight and fresh weight of over ground part were observed at concentration of 5 mg/L. Significant inhibitions on the stem length and fresh weight of over ground part were observed at concentration of 50 mg/L. In addition, all the indexes were inhibited at concentrations of 100 mg/L and 200 mg/L. It indicates that graphene certainly inhibit the morphogenesis of rice seedlings. But the mechanism by which graphene of 5 mg/L improves part of growth indexes still needs further study.

Ultrasonic nebulization extraction assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction followed by gas chromatography for the simultaneous determination of six parabens in cosmetic products.

A simple, rapid, and efficient method of ultrasonic nebulization extraction assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction was developed for the simultaneous determination of six parabens in cosmetic products. The analysis was carried out by gas chromatography. Water was used as the dispersive solvent instead of traditional organic disperser. The experimental factors affecting the extraction yield, such as the extraction solvent and volume, extraction time, dispersive solvent and volume, ionic strength, and centrifuging condition were studied and optimized in detail. The limit of detections for the target analytes were in the range of 2.0-9.5 µg/g. Good linear ranges were obtained with the coefficients ranging from 0.9934 to 0.9969. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of six parabens in 16 cosmetic products. The recoveries of the target analytes in real samples ranged from 81.9 to 108.7%, and the relative standard deviations were <5.3%.

Dynamic ultrasonic nebulisation extraction coupled with headspace ionic liquid-based single-drop microextraction for the analysis of the essential oil in Forsythia suspensa.

INTRODUCTION: Ionic liquids have attracted much attention as an extraction solvent instead of traditional organic solvent in single-drop microextraction. However, non-volatile ionic liquids are difficult to couple with gas chromatography. Thus, the following injection system for the determination of organic compounds is described. OBJECTIVE: To establish an environmentally friendly, simple, and effective extraction method for preparation and analysis of the essential oil from aromatic plants. METHODS: The dynamic ultrasonic nebulisation extraction was coupled with headspace ionic liquid-based single-drop microextraction(UNE-HS/IL/SDME)for the extraction of essential oils from Forsythia suspense fruits. After 13 min of extraction for 50 mg sample, the extracts in ionic liquid were evaporated rapidly in the gas chromatography injector through a thermal desorption unit (5 s). The traditional extraction method was carried out for comparative study. RESULTS: The optimum conditions were: 3 µL of 1-methyl-3-octylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate was selected as the extraction solvent, the sample amount was 50 mg, the flow rate of purging gas was 200 mL/min, the extraction time was 13 min, the injection volume was 2 µL, and the thermal desorption temperature and time were 240 °C and 5 s respectively. Comparing with hydrodistillation (HD), the proposed method was environment friendly and efficient. CONCLUSION: The proposed method is environmentally friendly, time saving, with high efficiency and low consumption. It would extend the application range of the HS/SDME and would be useful especially for aromatic plants analysis.

Ultrasonic nebulisation extraction: extraction column coupled with liquid phase microextraction for analysis of the volatile organic compounds in Foeniculum vulgare Mill. as a model.

INTRODUCTION: As the concentrations of the volatile organic compounds are always low and their matrix is complex, it is necessary to pre-concentrate the volatile organic compounds before analysis. Ultrasonic nebulisation extraction with a self-made extraction column coupled with liquid phase microextraction is developed for the extraction of active constituents from spices. OBJECTIVE: To develop an environmentally compatible extraction technique for the preparation and analysis of the volatile organic compounds from spices. METHOD: The sample is placed into the nebulisation vessel of a nebulisation humidifier and a purging gas is blown through the vessel continuously. When the nebuliser is switched on, a ultrasonic fountain is formed by ultrasonic vibration and the target analytes are transferred from the sample solution to the vapour phase and then concentrated on the extraction solvent in the extraction column. After extraction for 3 min and allowed to stand upright for 5 min, the extract is analysed by GC and GC-MS. Different methods of comparison can then be carried out. RESULTS: Optimum conditions were found to be: 30 µL of n-tetradecane as the extraction solvent, a flow rate for the purging gas of 40 mL/min, a purging time of 3 min and a standing time was 5 min. The contents of constituents in the extract obtained by the proposed method were close to those obtained by hydrodistillation (HD). Moreover, the proposed method achieves higher enrichment efficiency. CONCLUSION: A method was developed for the extraction of volatile organic compounds from spices. The study has shown that it is a fast and environmentally sustainable technique.

Speciation and sources of atmospheric aerosols in a highly industrialised emerging mega-city in central China.

Monitoring air quality in large urban agglomerations is the key to the prevention of air pollution-related problems in emerging mega-cities. The city of Wuhan is a highly industrialised city with >9 million inhabitants in Central China. Simultaneous PM10 sampling was performed during 1 year at one urban and one industrial site. Mean PM10 daily levels (156 microg m(-3) at the urban site and 197 microg m(-3) at the industrial hotspot) exceed the US-EPA or EU annual limit values by 3-4 times. A detailed study of daily speciation showed that the mean chemical composition of PM10 presents minimal differences between peak and low PM episodes. This implies that PM10 aerosols in the study area result from local emissions, and air quality management and abatement strategies in Wuhan should thus focus on local anthropogenic sources. The levels of some elements of environmental concern are relatively high (409-615 ngPb m(-3), 66-70 ngAs m(-3), 116-227 ngMn m(-3), 10-12 ngCd m(-3)) due to industrial, but also urban emissions. Principal component analysis identified a mineral source (probably cement and steel manufacture) and smelting as the main contributors to PM10 levels at the industrial site (34%), followed by a coal fired power plant (20%) and the anthropogenic regional background (16%). At the urban site the major PM10 source is a mixed coal combustion source (31%), followed by the anthropogenic regional background (28%) and traffic (16%).