Maca (Lepidium meyenii Walp, 2n = 8x = 64), belonging to the Brassicaceae family, is an economic plant cultivated in the central Andes sierra in Peru (4000-4500 m). Considering that the rapid uplift of the central Andes occurred 5-10 million years ago (Ma), an evolutionary question arises regarding how plants such as maca acquire high-altitude adaptation within a short geological period. Here, we report the high-quality genome assembly of maca, in which two closely spaced maca-specific whole-genome duplications (WGDs; ∼6.7 Ma) were identified. Comparative genomic analysis between maca and closely related Brassicaceae species revealed expansions of maca genes and gene families involved in abiotic stress response, hormone signaling pathway, and secondary metabolite biosynthesis via WGDs. The retention and subsequent functional divergence of many duplicated genes may account for the morphological and physiological changes (i.e., small leaf shape and self-fertility) in maca in a high-altitude environment. In addition, some duplicated maca genes were identified with functions in morphological adaptation (i.e., LEAF CURLING RESPONSIVENESS) and abiotic stress response (i.e., GLYCINE-RICH RNA-BINDING PROTEINS and DNA-DAMAGE-REPAIR/TOLERATION 2) under positive selection. Collectively, the maca genome provides useful information to understand the important roles of WGDs in the high-altitude adaptation of plants in the Andes.

Many plants emit diverse floral scents that mediate plant–environment interactions and attain reproductive success. However, how plants evolve novel and adaptive biosynthetic pathways for floral volatiles remains unclear. Here, we show that in the wild tobacco, Nicotiana attenuata, a dominant species-specific floral volatile (benzyl acetone, BA) that attracts pollinators and deters florivore is synthesized by phenylalanine ammonia-lyase 4 (NaPAL4), isoflavone reductase 3 (NaIFR3), and chalcone synthase 3 (NaCHAL3). Transient expression of NaFIR3 alone in N. attenuata leaves is sufficient and necessary for ectopic foliar BA emissions, and coexpressing NaIFR3 with NaPAL4 and NaCHAL3 increased the BA emission levels. Independent changes in transcription of NaPAL4 and NaCHAL3 contributed to intraspecific variations of floral BA emission. However, among species, the gain of expression of NaIFR3 resulted in the biosynthesis of BA, which was only found in N. attenuata. This study suggests that novel metabolic pathways associated with adaptation can arise via reconfigurations of gene expression.

Asparagus bean ( Vigna . unguiculata ssp. sesquipedialis ), known for its very long and tender green pods, is an important vegetable crop broadly grown in the developing Asian countries. In this study, we reported a 632.8 Mb assembly (549.81 Mb non-N size) of asparagus bean based on the whole genome shotgun sequencing strategy. We also generated a linkage map for asparagus bean, which helped anchor 94.42% of the scaffolds into 11 pseudo-chromosomes. A total of 42,609 protein-coding genes and 3,579 non-protein-coding genes were predicted from the assembly. Taken together, these genomic resources of asparagus bean will help develop a pan-genome of V . unguiculata and facilitate the investigation of economically valuable traits in this species, so that the cultivation of this plant would help combat the protein and energy malnutrition in the developing world.

This paper proposes a multi-objective optimal energy management framework for the integrated electrical and natural gas network (IEGN) with combined cooling, heat, and power (CCHP) plants. Various energy conversion devices that are installed in the CCHP plant provide redundant generation options and energy pathways, which could be optimally chosen and shifted with given objectives, while meeting the multi-energy (ME) demands. However, this flexible energy dispatch manners may frequently change the energy distribution in the IEGN and challenge their mutual accommodation. In particular, the linepack reserve in the natural gas network, which supports the ramping capabilities of both the gas turbines and the flexible energy dispatch of the gas-dependent ME devices, is highly influenced. Without enough linepack reserve, not only will the flexible operation of the CCHP plants be hindered, but also the gas turbines will be prevented from balancing the supply and the demand in the electrical network, thus threatens the safety of the IEGN. Owing to this, the linepack reserve is modelled and jointly considered in the proposed energy management framework. The multi-objective optimization model that is proposed in this paper could simultaneously promote the economic benefits, safety, and efficiency of the IEGN, and Elitist Non-dominated Sorting Genetic algorithm II is used to solve it. At last, case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.