Artemisia annua, commonly known as sweet wormwood or Qinghao, is a shrub native to China and has long been used for medicinal purposes. A. annua is now cultivated globally as the only natural source of a potent anti-malarial compound, artemisinin. Here, we report a high-quality draft assembly of the 1.74-gigabase genome of A. annua, which is highly heterozygous, rich in repetitive sequences, and contains 63 226 protein-coding genes, one of the largest numbers among the sequenced plant species. We found that, as one of a few sequenced genomes in the Asteraceae, the A. annua genome contains a large number of genes specific to this large angiosperm clade. Notably, the expansion and functional diversification of genes encoding enzymes involved in terpene biosynthesis are consistent with the evolution of the artemisinin biosynthetic pathway. We further revealed by transcriptome profiling that A. annua has evolved the sophisticated transcriptional regulatory networks underlying artemisinin biosynthesis. Based on comprehensive genomic and transcriptomic analyses we generated transgenic A. annua lines producing high levels of artemisinin, which are now ready for large-scale production and thereby will help meet the challenge of increasing global demand of artemisinin.

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In order to conduct lunar surface mineral composition studies and content analysis, the Visible and Near-infrared Imaging Spectrometer (VNIS), one of the scientific payloads of the Chang'E 3 Yutu rover, has been developed to detect lunar surface objects and to obtain their reflectance spectra and geometric images. This is achieved with a 45° visual angle and at a height of 0.69 m. VNIS is equipped with a lunar surface calibration function, and the spectral range is 0.45-2.40 μm with a spectral resolution of 2-12 nm. It is capable of synchronously acquiring the full spectrum of lunar surface objects and in situ calibration. Here, we describe the VNIS and explain the preliminary results of the lunar surface exploration and calibration, which provides valuable information for scientific data processing and applications.

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a primary malignant bone tumor that most commonly affects children, adolescents, and young adults. Here, we comprehensively analyze genomic, epigenomic and transcriptomic data from 121 OS patients. Somatic mutations are diverse within the cohort, and only TP53 is significantly mutated. Through unsupervised integrative clustering of the multi-omics data, we classify OS into four subtypes with distinct molecular features and clinical prognosis: (1) Immune activated (S-IA), (2) Immune suppressed (S-IS), (3) Homologous recombination deficiency dominant (S-HRD), and (4) MYC driven (S-MD). MYC amplification with HR proficiency tumors is identified with a high oxidative phosphorylation signature resulting in resistance to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Potential therapeutic targets are identified for each subtype, including platinum-based chemotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors, anti-VEGFR, anti-MYC and PARPi-based synthetic lethal strategies. Our comprehensive integrated characterization provides a valuable resource that deepens our understanding of the disease, and may guide future clinical strategies for the precision treatment of OS.