Summary Tree bark is a highly specialized array of tissues that plays important roles in plant protection and development. Bark tissues develop from two lateral meristems; the phellogen (cork cambium) produces the outermost stem–environment barrier called the periderm, while the vascular cambium contributes with phloem tissues. Although bark is diverse in terms of tissues, functions and species, it remains understudied at higher resolution. We dissected the stem of silver birch (Betula pendula) into eight major tissue types, and characterized these by a combined transcriptomics and metabolomics approach. We further analyzed the varying bark types within the Betulaceae family. The two meristems had a distinct contribution to the stem transcriptomic landscape. Furthermore, inter‐ and intraspecies analyses illustrated the unique molecular profile of the phellem. We identified multiple tissue‐specific metabolic pathways, such as the mevalonate/betulin biosynthesis pathway, that displayed differential evolution within the Betulaceae. A detailed analysis of suberin and betulin biosynthesis pathways identified a set of underlying regulators and highlighted the important role of local, small‐scale gene duplication events in the evolution of metabolic pathways. This work reveals the transcriptome and metabolic diversity among bark tissues and provides insights to its development and evolution, as well as its biotechnological applications.

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RATIONALE: Ambient mass spectrometry (MS) is a tool for screening analytes directly from sample surfaces. However, background impurities may complicate the spectra and therefore fast separation techniques are needed. Here, we demonstrate the use of travelling wave ion mobility spectrometry in a comparative study of two ambient MS techniques. METHODS: Desorption atmospheric pressure photoionization (DAPPI) and direct analysis in real time (DART) were coupled with travelling wave ion mobility mass spectrometry (TWIM-MS) for highly selective surface analysis. The ionization efficiencies of DAPPI and DART were compared. Test compounds were: bisphenol A, benzo[a]pyrene, ranitidine, cortisol and α-tocopherol. DAPPI-MS and DART-TWIM-MS were also applied to the analysis of chloroquine from dried blood spots, and α-tocopherol from almond surface, and DAPPI-TWIM-MS was applied to analysis of pharmaceuticals and multivitamin tablets. RESULTS: DAPPI was approximately 100 times more sensitive than DART for bisphenol A and 10-20 times more sensitive for the other compounds. The limits of detection were between 30-290 and 330-8200 fmol for DAPPI and DART, respectively. Also, from the authentic samples, DAPPI ionized chloroquine and α-tocopherol more efficiently than DART. The mobility separation enabled the detection of species with low signal intensities, e.g. thiamine and cholecalciferol, in the DAPPI-TWIM-MS analysis of multivitamin tablets. CONCLUSIONS: DAPPI ionized the studied compounds of interest more efficiently than DART. For both DAPPI and DART, the mobility separation prior to MS analysis reduced the amount of chemical noise in the mass spectrum and significantly increased the signal-to-noise ratio for the analytes.

The kinetics for the decomposition of the symmetrical proton-bound dimers of a series of 2-ketones (M) from acetone to 2-nonanone have been determined at ambient pressure by linear ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) and by differential mobility spectrometry (DMS). Decomposition, M2H(+) →MH(+) + M, in the IMS instrument, observed under thermal conditions over the temperature range 147 to 172 °C, yielded almost identical Arrhenius parameters Ea = 122 kJ mol(-1) and ln A = 38.8 for the dimers of 2-pentanone, 2-heptanone, and 2-nonanone. Ion decomposition in the DMS instrument was due to a combination of thermal and electric field energies at an effective ion internal temperature whose value was estimated by reference to the IMS kinetic parameters. Decomposition was observed with radio frequency (RF) fields with maximum intensities in the range 10 kV cm(-1) to 30 kV cm(-1) and gas temperatures from 30 to 110 °C, which yielded effective temperatures that were higher than the gas temperature by 260° at 30 °C and 100° at 110 °C. There was a mass dependence of the field for the onset of decomposition: the higher the ion mass, the higher the required field at a given gas temperature, which is ascribed to the associated increasing heat capacity with the increasing carbon number, but similar, internal vibrations and rotations.