As an economic crop, pepper satisfies people's spicy taste and has medicinal uses worldwide. To gain a better understanding of Capsicum evolution, domestication, and specialization, we present here the genome sequence of the cultivated pepper Zunla-1 (C. annuum L.) and its wild progenitor Chiltepin (C. annuum var. glabriusculum). We estimate that the pepper genome expanded ∼0.3 Mya (with respect to the genome of other Solanaceae) by a rapid amplification of retrotransposons elements, resulting in a genome comprised of ∼81% repetitive sequences. Approximately 79% of 3.48-Gb scaffolds containing 34,476 protein-coding genes were anchored to chromosomes by a high-density genetic map. Comparison of cultivated and wild pepper genomes with 20 resequencing accessions revealed molecular footprints of artificial selection, providing us with a list of candidate domestication genes. We also found that dosage compensation effect of tandem duplication genes probably contributed to the pungent diversification in pepper. The Capsicum reference genome provides crucial information for the study of not only the evolution of the pepper genome but also, the Solanaceae family, and it will facilitate the establishment of more effective pepper breeding programs.de novo genome sequence | genome expansion | Solanaceae evolution

Luminescent carbon quantum dots (CQDs) represent a new form of nanocarbon materials which have gained widespread attention in recent years, especially in chemical sensor, bioimaging, nanomedicine, solar cells, light-emitting diode (LED), and electrocatalysis. CQDs can be prepared simply and inexpensively by multiple techniques, such as the arc-discharge method, microwave pyrolysis, hydrothermal method, and electrochemical synthesis. CQDs show excellent physical and chemical properties like high crystallization, good dispersibility, photoluminescence properties. In particular, the small size, superconductivity, and rapid electron transfer of CQDs endow the CQDs-based composite with improved electric conductivity and catalytic activity. Besides, CQDs have abundant functional groups on the surface which could facilitate the preparation of multi-component electrical active catalysts. The interactions inside these multi-component catalysts may further enhance the catalytic performance by promoting charge transfer which plays an important role in electrochemistry. Most recent researches on CQDs have focused on their fluorescence characteristics and photocatalytic properties. This review will summarize the primary advances of CQDs in the synthetic methods, excellent physical and electronic properties, and application in electrocatalysis, including oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), hydrogen evolution reduction (HER), and CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR).

This paper presents a fully-printed chipless RFID sensor tag for short-range item identification and humidity monitoring applications. The tag consists of two planar inductor-capacitor resonators operating wirelessly through inductive coupling. One resonator is used to encode ID data based on frequency spectrum signature, and another one works as a humidity sensor, utilizing a paper substrate as a sensing material. The sensing performances of three paper substrates including commercial packaging paper are investigated. The use of paper provides excellent sensitivity and reasonable response time to humidity. The cheap and robust packaging paper, particularly, exhibits the largest sensitivity over the RH range from 20% to 70%, which offers the possibility of directly printing the sensor tag on traditional packages to make the package 'intelligent' at ultra-low cost.

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Paramagnetic endohedral fullerenes are ideal candidates for quantum information processing and high-density data storage due to their protected spins with particularly high stability. Herein, we report a solid spin system based on a paramagnetic metallofullerene Y2@C79N through incarcerating it into the cage-shaped pores of a metal-organic framework (MOF-177). In this kind of guest and host complex, the Y2@C79N molecules inside the pores of MOF crystal show axisymmetric paramagnetic property. It was found that the pores of MOF-177 crystal play an important role in dispersing the Y2@C79N molecules as well as in steering their electron spin. The group of arranged Y2@C79N molecules and their electron spins in MOF crystals are potential quantum bits for quantum information science and data storage. Moreover, this kind of solid spin system can be used as a probe for nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance or for motion imaging of a single biomolecule.

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The endohedral fullerenes lead to well-protected internal species by the fullerene cages, and even highly reactive radicals can be stabilized. However, the manipulation of the magnetic properties of these radicals from outside remains challenging. Here we report a system of a paramagnetic metallofullerene Sc3C2@C80 connected to a nitroxide radical, to achieve the remote control of the magnetic properties of the metallofullerene. The remote nitroxide group serves as a magnetic switch for the electronic spin resonance (ESR) signals of Sc3C2@C80 via spin–spin interactions. Briefly, the nitroxide radical group can ‘switch off’ the ESR signals of the Sc3C2@C80 moiety. Moreover, the strength of spin–spin interactions between Sc3C2@C80 and the nitroxide group can be manipulated by changing the distance between these two spin centres. In addition, the ESR signals of the Sc3C2@C80 moiety can be switched on at low temperatures through weakened spin–lattice interactions.