分类： 物理学 >> 核物理学 提交时间： 2016-08-16
摘要： A new search signature for excited leptons is explored. Excited muons are sought in the channel pp→μμ∗→μμ jet jet, assuming both the production and decay occur via a contact interaction. The analysis is based on 20.3 fb−1 of pp collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of s√ = 8 TeV taken with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. No evidence of excited muons is found, and limits are set at the 95% confidence level on the cross section times branching ratio as a function of the excited-muon mass mμ∗. For mμ∗ between 1.3 TeV and 3.0 TeV, the upper limit on σB(μ∗→μqq¯) is between 0.6 and 1 fb. Limits on σB are converted to lower bounds on the compositeness scale Λ. In the limiting case Λ=mμ∗, excited muons with a mass below 2.8 TeV are excluded. With the same model assumptions, these limits at larger μ∗ masses improve upon previous limits from traditional searches based on the gauge-mediated decay μ∗→μγ.
分类： 地球科学 >> 地理学 提交时间： 2020-11-25 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》
摘要： There are eight provinces and autonomous regions (Gansu Province, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province, Shanxi Province, and Shaanxi Province) in Northwest China, most areas of which are located in arid and semi-arid regions (northwest of the 400 mm precipitation line), accounting for 58.74% of the country's land area and sustaining approximately 7.84×106 people. Because of drought conditions and fragile ecology, these regions cannot develop agriculture at the expense of the environment. Given the challenges of global warming, the green total factor productivity (GTFP), taking CO2 emissions as an undesirable output, is an effective index for measuring the sustainability of agricultural development. Agricultural GTFP can be influenced by both internal production factors (labor force, machinery, land, agricultural plastic film, diesel, pesticide, and fertilizer) and external climate factors (temperature, precipitation, and sunshine duration). In this study, we used the Super-slacks-based measure (Super-SBM) model to measure agricultural GTFP during the period 2000–2016 at the regional level. Our results show that the average agricultural GTFP of most provinces and autonomous regions in arid and semi-arid regions underwent a fluctuating increase during the study period (2000–2016), and the fluctuation was caused by the production factors (input and output factors). To improve agricultural GTFP, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Gansu should reduce agricultural labor force input; Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Shanxi should decrease machinery input; Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Shanxi should reduce fertilizer input; Shaanxi, Xinjiang, Gansu, and Ningxia should reduce diesel input; Xinjiang and Gansu should decrease plastic film input; and Gansu, Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia should cut pesticide input. Desirable output agricultural earnings should be increased in Qinghai and Tibet, and undesirable output (CO2 emissions) should be reduced in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Gansu, and Shaanxi. Agricultural GTFP is influenced not only by internal production factors but also by external climate factors. To determine the influence of climate factors on GTFP in these provinces and autonomous regions, we used a Geographical Detector (Geodetector) model to analyze the influence of climate factors (temperature, precipitation, and sunshine duration) and identify the relationships between different climate factors and GTFP. We found that temperature played a significant role in the spatial heterogeneity of GTFP among provinces and autonomous regions in arid and semi-arid regions. For Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet, a suitable average annual temperature would be in the range of 7°C–9°C; for Gansu, Shanxi, and Ningxia, it would be 11°C–13°C; and for Shaanxi, it would be 15°C–17°C. Stable climatic conditions and more efficient production are prerequisites for the development of sustainable agriculture. Hence, in the agricultural production process, reducing the redundancy of input factors is the best way to reduce CO2 emissions and to maintain temperatures, thereby improving the agricultural GTFP. The significance of this study is that it explores the impact of both internal production factors and external climatic factors on the development of sustainable agriculture in arid and semi-arid regions, identifying an effective way forward for the arid and semi-arid regions of Northwest China.
分类： 地球科学 >> 空间物理学 提交时间： 2016-12-22
摘要： With the assumption of radial motion and uniform longitudinal distribution of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), we propose a method to eliminate projection effects from the apparent observed CME latitude distribution. This method has been applied to SOHO LASCO data from 1996 January to 2006 December. As a result, we find that the real CME latitude distribution had the following characteristics: (1) High-latitude CMEs (theta > 60 degrees, where theta is the latitude) constituted 3% of all CMEs and mainly occurred during the time when the polar magnetic fields reversed sign. The latitudinal drift of the high-latitude CMEs was correlated with that of the heliospheric current sheet. (2) Four percent of all CMEs occurred in the range 45 degrees <= theta <= 60 degrees. These midlatitude CMEs occurred primarily in 2000, near the middle of 2002, and in 2005, forming a prominent three-peak structure. (3) The highest occurrence probability of low-latitude (theta < 45 degrees) CMEs was at the minimum and during the declining phase of the solar cycle. However, the highest occurrence rate of low-latitude CMEs was at the maximum and during the declining phase of the solar cycle. The latitudinal evolution of low-latitude CMEs did not follow the Sporer sunspot law, which suggests that many CMEs originated outside of active regions.
分类： 地球科学 >> 空间物理学 提交时间： 2016-12-01
摘要： With the assumption of radial motion and uniform longitudinal distribution of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), we propose a method to eliminate projection effects from the apparent observed CME latitude distribution. This method has been applied to SOHO LASCO data from 1996 January to 2006 December. As a result, we find that the real CME latitude distribution had the following characteristics: (1) High-latitude CMEs (theta > 60 degrees, where theta is the latitude) constituted 3% of all CMEs and mainly occurred during the time when the polar magnetic fields reversed sign. The latitudinal drift of the high-latitude CMEs was correlated with that of the heliospheric current sheet. (2) Four percent of all CMEs occurred in the range 45 degrees <= theta <= 60 degrees. These midlatitude CMEs occurred primarily in 2000, near the middle of 2002, and in 2005, forming a prominent three-peak structure. (3) The highest occurrence probability of low-latitude (theta < 45 degrees) CMEs was at the minimum and during the declining phase of the solar cycle. However, the highest occurrence rate of low-latitude CMEs was at the maximum and during the declining phase of the solar cycle. The latitudinal evolution of low-latitude CMEs did not follow the Sporer sunspot law, which suggests that many CMEs originated outside of active regions.
分类： 生物学 >> 生态学 提交时间： 2023-02-07 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》
摘要： Stipagrostis ciliata (Desf.) De Winter is a pastoral C4 grass grown in arid regions. This research work focused on assessing the growth of S. ciliata accessions derived from two different climate regions (a wet arid region in the Bou Hedma National Park in the central and southern part of Tunisia (coded as WA), and a dry arid region from the Matmata Mountain in the south of Tunisia (coded as DA)) under water stress conditions. Specifically, the study aimed to investigate the phenological and physiological responses of potted S. ciliata seedlings under different water treatments: T1 (200 mm/a), T2 (150 mm/a), T3 (100 mm/a) and T4 (50 mm/a). Growth phenology, net photosynthesis (Pn), stomatal conductance (gs), midday leaf water potential (md), predawn leaf water potential (pd), soil water content (SWC) and soil water potential (s) were observed during the water stress cycle (from December 2016 to November 2017). The obtained results showed that the highest growth potential of the two accessions (WA and DA) was recorded under treatment T1. The two accessions responded differently and significantly to water stress. Photosynthetic parameters, such as Pn and gs, decreased sharply under treatments T2, T3 and T4 compared to treatment T1. The higher water stress increased the R/S ratio (the ratio of root dry biomass to shoot dry biomass), with values of 1.29 and 2.74 under treatment T4 for accessions WA and DA, respectively. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied, and the separation of S. ciliata accessions on the first two axes of PCA (PC1 and PC2) suggested that accession DA was detected in the negative extremity of PC1 and PC2 under treatments T1 and T2. This accession was characterized by a high number of spikes. For treatments T3 and T4, both accessions were detected in the negative extremity of PC1 and PC2. They were characterized by a high root dry biomass. Therefore, S. ciliata accessions responded to water stress by displaying significant changes in their behaviours. Accession WA from the Bou Hedma National Park (wet arid region) showed higher drought tolerance than accession DA from the Matmata Mountain (dry arid region). S. ciliata exhibits a significant adaptation capacity for water limitation and may be an important species for ecosystem restoration.
分类： 生物学 >> 植物学 >> 应用植物学 提交时间： 2020-05-31 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》
摘要： Since the Grain for Green (GFG) program was implemented in 1999, most steeply sloping farmlands in the Loess Plateau of China have been returned to forestland and grassland. To understand its impact on the food production, this study analyzed the spatiotemporal changes of food crop production (FCP) in the plateau and quantified the contribution of sown area and yield changes to the total FCP during 1998–2014 using factor decomposition models, and then discussed the impact of GFG program on the FCP based on literature data. With the implementation of GFG program, total sown area in the Loess Plateau quickly deceased by 17.3% from 1998 to 2003, and then gradually restored to 1.03×107 hm2 in 2010. Thereafter, it slightly decreased to 1.02×107 hm2 (94.6% of the area in 1998) in 2014. By contrast, total FCP generally showed an apparent growth trend, averagely increased by 1.71% per year in the whole plateau during 1998–2014. This increase was jointly contributed by the improved yield of individual crops, and the adjustment of cropping structure, i.e., the expansion of high yield maize crop. The factor decomposition analysis results indicate that the sown area shrinkage only reduced the growth rate of total FCP by 0.29% per year during 1998–2014, although a significant impact was found for the early stage of 1999–2003. The results suggest that the implementation of GFG program would not induce an obvious risk of the food security. Therefore, it is suggested that the GFG program should be set as a long-term strategic policy, by not only supporting the conversion of slope farmlands, but also helping local farmers to seek sustainable ways of land use to improve the income and livelihood. It can be combined with the poverty eradication program, to simultaneously achieve the national goals of ecological civilization building and the livelihood improvement of rural people in the Loess Plateau. Considering rainfall limitation, the conversion of slope farmlands should be prioritized to grasslands.
分类： 环境科学技术及资源科学技术 >> 环境科学技术基础学科 提交时间： 2020-04-23 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》
摘要： Since the Grain for Green (GFG) program was implemented in 1999, most steeply sloping farmlands in the Loess Plateau of China have been returned to forestland and grassland. To understand its impact on the food production, this study analyzed the spatiotemporal changes of food crop production (FCP) in the plateau and quantified the contribution of sown area and yield changes to the total FCP during 1998–2014 using factor decomposition models, and then discussed the impact of GFG program on the FCP based on literature data. With the implementation of GFG program, total sown area in the Loess Plateau quickly deceased by 17.3% from 1998 to 2003, and then gradually restored to 1.03×107 hm2 in 2010. Thereafter, it slightly decreased to 1.02×107 hm2 (94.6% of the area in 1998) in 2014. By contrast, total FCP generally showed an apparent growth trend, averagely increased by 1.71% per year in the whole plateau during 1998–2014. This increase was jointly contributed by the improved yield of individual crops, and the adjustment of cropping structure, i.e., the expansion of high yield maize crop. The factor decomposition analysis results indicate that the sown area shrinkage only reduced the growth rate of total FCP by 0.29% per year during 1998–2014, although a significant impact was found for the early stage of 1999–2003. The results suggest that the implementation of GFG program would not induce an obvious risk of the food security. Therefore, it is suggested that the GFG program should be set as a long-term strategic policy, by not only supporting the conversion of slope farmlands, but also helping local farmers to seek sustainable ways of land use to improve the income and livelihood. It can be combined with the poverty eradication program, to simultaneously achieve the national goals of ecological civilization building and the livelihood improvement of rural people in the Loess Plateau. Considering rainfall limitation, the conversion of slope farmlands should be prioritized to grasslands.
分类： 生物学 >> 生态学 提交时间： 2019-01-17 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》
摘要： Soil salinization is a serious ecological and environmental problem because it adversely affects sustainable development worldwide, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. It is crucial and urgent that advanced technologies are used to efficiently and accurately assess the status of salinization processes. Case studies to determine the relations between particular types of salinization and their spectral reflectances are essential because of the distinctive characteristics of the reflectance spectra of particular salts. During April 2015 we collected surface soil samples (0–10 cm depth) at 64 field sites in the downstream area of Minqin Oasis in Northwest China, an area that is undergoing serious salinization. We developed a linear model for determination of salt content in soil from hyperspectral data as follows. First, we undertook chemical analysis of the soil samples to determine their soluble salt contents. We then measured the reflectance spectra of the soil samples, which we post-processed using a continuum-removed reflectance algorithm to enhance the absorption features and better discriminate subtle differences in spectral features. We applied a normalized difference salinity index to the continuum-removed hyperspectral data to obtain all possible waveband pairs. Correlation of the indices obtained for all of the waveband pairs with the wavebands corresponding to measured soil salinities showed that two wavebands centred at wavelengths of 1358 and 2382 nm had the highest sensitivity to salinity. We then applied the linear regression modelling to the data from half of the soil samples to develop a soil salinity index for the relationships between wavebands and laboratory measured soluble salt content. We used the hyperspectral data from the remaining samples to validate the model. The salt content in soil from Minqin Oasis were well produced by the model. Our results indicate that wavelengths at 1358 and 2382 nm are the optimal wavebands for monitoring the concentrations of chlorine and sulphate compounds, the predominant salts at Minqin Oasis. Our modelling provides a reference for future case studies on the use of hyperspectral data for predictive quantitative estimation of salt content in soils in arid regions. Further research is warranted on the application of this method to remotely sensed hyperspectral data to investigate its potential use for large-scale mapping of the extent and severity of soil salinity.
分类： 地球科学 >> 地球科学其他学科 提交时间： 2017-12-18 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》
摘要： The feasibility of rooftop rainwater harvesting (RRWH) as an alternative source of water to meet the outdoor water demand in nine states of the U. S. was evaluated using a system dynamics model developed in Systems Thinking, Experimental Learning Laboratory with Animation. The state of Arizona was selected to evaluate the effects of the selected model parameters on the efficacy of RRWH since among the nine states the arid region of Arizona showed the least potential of meeting the outdoor water demand with rain harvested water. The analyses were conducted on a monthly basis across a 10-year projected period from 2015 to 2024. The results showed that RRWH as a potential source of water was highly sensitive to certain model parameters such as the outdoor water demand, the use of desert landscaping, and the percentage of existing houses with RRWH. A significant difference (as high as 37.5%) in rainwater potential was observed between the projected wet and dry climate conditions in Arizona. The analysis of the dynamics of the storage tanks suggested that a 1.0–2.0 m3 rainwater barrel, on an average, can store approximately 80% of the monthly rainwater generated from the rooftops in Arizona, even across the high seasonal variation. This interactive model can be used as a quick estimator of the amount of water that could be generated, stored, and utilized through RRWH systems in the U.S. under different climate conditions. The findings of such comprehensive analyses may help regional policymakers, especially in arid regions, to develop a sustainable water management infrastructure.
分类： 地球科学 >> 水文学 提交时间： 2018-07-05 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》
BELALA, Fahima
HIRCHE, Azziz
MULLER, Serge D
Mahmoud, TOURKI
SALAMANI, Mostefa
GRANDI, Mohamed
AIT HAMOUDA, Tahar
Madjid, BOUGHANI
摘要： Since 1960, the steppe regions of North Africa have been subject to an increasing desertification, including the degradation of traditional pastures. The initially dominant species (Artemisia herba-alba, Lygeum spartum and Stipa tenacissima) declined and were progressively replaced by other species (Atractylis serratuloides and Salsola vermiculata) that are more tolerant to the new conditions. It is not clear whether these changes are due to anthropogenic reasons or climatic determinism. We have carried out a statistical analysis of the climate to detect putative rainfall changes during the 20th century in the Algerian steppes based on data from 9 meteorological stations, including 2 Saharan stations (El Oued and Touggourt), 3 pre-Saharan stations (Biskra, Laghouat and Ain Sefra) and 4 steppe stations (Djelfa, Saida, Mchria and El-Bayadh) located in the arid high plains, which represent the bioclimate diversities of the region. Previous studies suggested that significant rainfall changes for the 20th century only had records in the south of the Oran region. Most of the studies, however, looked at restricted territories over limited periods, and did not integrate the rainiest period 20042014. Our work is designed to integrate all the longest time series of meteorological data available for the steppe regions of Algeria. Our results confirm the spatial rainfall distribution (significant rainfall changes only recorded in the southwestern region) evidenced by previous studies, and reveal a decreasing rainfall gradient from northeastern to southwestern Algeria. Moreover, the results reveal a trend of significant decrease of rainfall in the southern Oran region, marked by two drought periods in 19801985 and 19992003. However, with the exception of the southwestern region, rainfall overall has not declined since the beginning of the 20th century. While less marked in other regions, the drought appear to have affected all territories of the Algerian steppe. Consequently, our study implies that the climate was not a leading influence in the on-going degradation of the vegetation cover of steppe landscapes. Such a vegetation evolution thus appears to be have been determined more by human activities than by climate forcing.
分类： 生物学 >> 植物学 >> 植物生态学和植物地理学 提交时间： 2025-05-19 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》
摘要： Climate change and human activities have led to desertification and decreased land productivity, significantly affecting human livelihoods in desert regions. Identifying suitable areas for cultivating economic and native plants based on ecological capacity, biological restoration, and risk management can be valuable tools for combating desertification. In this study, we identified suitable areas for the growth of economic and medicinal Moringa peregrina trees in desert regions of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, southern Iran, using library research and field methods. We also assessed the economic involvement of local communities in areas under different topographic conditions (namely flat area, undulating area, rolling area, moderately sloping area, and steep area) in the study area. Financial indicators such as the net present value (NPV), benefit-cost ratio (BCR), internal rate of return (IRR), and return on investment (ROI) were calculated for areas under various topographic conditions in the study area. The rolling area with results of NPV (6142.75 USD), IRR (103.38), BCR (5.38), and ROI (in the 3rd year) was the best region for investing and cultivating M. peregrina. The minimum economic level varied from 0.80 hm2 in the flat area to 21.60 hm2 in the steep area. Also, approximately 5,314,629.51 hm2 of desert lands in the study area were deemed suitable for M. peregrina cultivation, benefiting around 1,743,246 households in the study area. Cultivating M. peregrina in southern Iran can positively affect local communities and help preserve land from erosion. Our study will provide theoretical support for planting native species in other degraded desert regions to enhance ecosystem services and the well-being of indigenous populations.
分类： 地球科学 >> 地理学 提交时间： 2021-01-15 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》
摘要： Trend and stationarity analysis of climatic variables are essential for understanding climate variability and provide useful information about the vulnerability and future changes, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. In this study, various climatic zones of Iran were investigated to assess the relationship between the trend and the stationarity of the climatic variables. The Mann-Kendall test was considered to identify the trend, while the trend free pre-whitening approach was applied for eliminating serial correlation from the time-series. Meanwhile, time series stationarity was tested by Dickey-Fuller and Kwiatkowski-Phillips-Schmidt-Shin tests. The results indicated an increasing trend for mean air temperature series at most of the stations over various climatic zones, however, after eliminating the serial correlation factor, this increasing trend changes to an insignificant decreasing trend at a 95% confidence level. The seasonal mean air temperature trend suggested a significant increase in the majority of the stations. The mean air temperature increased more in northwest towards central parts of Iran that mostly located in arid and semi-arid climatic zones. Precipitation trend reveals an insignificant downward trend in most of the series over various climatic zones; furthermore, most of the stations follow a decreasing trend for seasonal precipitation. Furthermore, spatial patterns of trend and seasonality of precipitation and mean air temperature showed that the northwest parts of Iran and margin areas of the Caspian Sea are more vulnerable to the changing climate with respect to the precipitation shortfalls and warming. Stationarity analysis indicated that the stationarity of climatic series influences on their trend; so that, the series which have significant trends are not static. The findings of this investigation can help planners and policy-makers in various fields related to climatic issues, implementing better management and planning strategies to adapt to climate change and variability over Iran.
分类： 地球科学 >> 地球科学史 提交时间： 2020-06-22 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》
摘要： Overgrazing is regarded as one of the key factors of vegetation and soil degradation in the arid and semi-arid regions of Northwest China. Grazing exclusion (GE) is one of the most common pathways used to restore degraded grasslands and to improve their ecosystem services. Nevertheless, there are still significant controversies concerning GE's effects on grassland diversity as well as carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) storage. It remains poorly understood in the arid desert regions, whilst being essential for the sustainable use of grassland resources. To assess the effects of GE on community characteristics and C and N storage of desert plant community in the arid desert regions, we investigated the community structure and plant biomass, as well as C and N storage of plants and soil (0–100 cm depth) in short-term GE (three years) plots and adjacent long-term freely grazing (FG) plots in the areas of sagebrush desert in Northwest China, which are important both for spring-autumn seasonal pasture and for ecological conservation. Our findings indicated that GE was beneficial to the average height, coverage and aboveground biomass (including stems, leaves and inflorescences, and litter) of desert plant community, to the species richness and importance values of subshrubs and perennial herbs, and to the biomass C and N storage of aboveground parts (P<0.05). However, GE was not beneficial to the importance values of annual herbs, root/shoot ratio and total N concentration in the 0–5 and 5–10 cm soil layers (P<0.05). Additionally, the plant density, belowground biomass, and soil organic C concentration and C storage in the 0–100 cm soil layer could not be significantly changed by short-term GE (three years). The results suggest that, although GE was not beneficial for C sequestration in the sagebrush desert ecosystem, it is an effective strategy for improving productivity, diversity, and C and N storage of plants. As a result, GE can be used to rehabilitate degraded grasslands in the arid desert regions of Northwest China.
分类： 天文学 >> 星系和宇宙学 提交时间： 2023-02-21
Y. T. Yan
C. Henkel
K. M. Menten
Y. Gong
H. Nguyen
J. Ott
A. Ginsburg
T. L. Wilson
A. Brunthaler
A. Belloche
J. S. Zhang
N. Budaiev
D.Jeff
摘要： We report the discovery of widespread maser emission in non-metastable inversion transitions of NH_3 toward various parts of the Sagittarius B2 molecular cloud/star forming region complex: We detect masers in the J,K= (6,3), (7,4), (8,5), (9,6), and (10,7) transitions toward Sgr B2(M) and Sgr B2(N), an NH_3 (6,3) maser in Sgr B2(NS), and NH_3 (7,4), (9,6), and (10,7) masers in Sgr B2(S). With the high angular resolution data of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) in A-configuration we identify 18 maser spots. Nine maser spots arise from Sgr B2(N), one from Sgr B2(NS), five from Sgr B2(M), and three in Sgr B2(S). Compared to our Effelsberg single dish data, the JVLA data indicate no missing flux. The detected maser spots are not resolved by our JVLA observations. Lower limits to the brightness temperature are >3000~K and reach up to several 10^5~K, manifesting the lines' maser nature. In view of the masers' velocity differences with respect to adjacent hot molecular cores and/or UCH{\scriptsize II} regions, it is argued that all the measured ammonia maser lines may be associated with shocks caused either by outflows or by the expansion of UCH{\scriptsize II} regions. Overall, Sgr B2 is unique in that it allows us to measure many NH_3 masers simultaneously, which may be essential to elucidate their so far poorly understood origin and excitation.
分类： 生物学 >> 植物学 提交时间： 2024-07-31 合作期刊: 《干旱区科学》
摘要： Savanna, semi-deserts, and hot deserts characterize the Saharo-Arabian region, which includes Morocco, Mauretania, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, southern Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northern India. Its neighboring regions, the Sudano-Zambezian region belonging to the Paleotropical Kingdom and the Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian regions included in the Holarctic Kingdom, share a large portion of their flora with the Saharo-Arabian region. Despite the widespread acknowledgment of the region's global importance for plant diversity, an up to date list of the Saharo-Arabian endemics is still unavailable. The available data are frequently insufficient or out of date at both the whole global and the national scales. Therefore, the present study aims at screening and verifying the Saharo-Arabian endemic plants and determining the phytogeographical distribution of these taxa in the Egyptian flora. Hence, a preliminary list of 429 Saharo-Arabian endemic plants in Egypt was compiled from the available literature. Indeed, by excluding the species that were recorded in any countries or regions outside the Saharo-Arabian region based on different literature, database reviews, and websites, the present study has reduced this number to 126 taxa belonging to 87 genera and 37 families. Regarding the national geographic distribution, South Sinai is the richest region with 83 endemic species compared with other eight phytogeographic regions in Egypt, followed by the Isthmic Desert (the middle of Sinai Peninsula, 53 taxa). Sahara regional subzone (SS1) distributes all the 126 endemic species, Arabian regional subzone (SS2) owns 79 taxa, and Nubo-Sindian subzone (SS3) distributes only 14 endemics. Seven groups were recognized at the fourth level of classification as a result of the application of the two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN) to the Saharo-Arabian endemic species in Egypt, i.e., I Asphodelus refractus group, II Agathophora alopecuroides var. papillosa group, III Anvillea garcinii group, IV Reseda muricata group, V Agathophora alopecuroides var. alopecuroides group, VI Scrophularia deserti group, and VII Astragalus schimperi group. It's crucial to clearly define the Saharo-Arabian endemics and illustrate an updated verified database of these taxa for a given territory for providing future management plans that support the conservation and sustainable use of these valuable species under current thought-provoking devastating impacts of rapid anthropogenic and climate change in this region.
分类： 生物学 >> 生物物理学 >> 生物物理、生物化学与分子生物学 提交时间： 2016-05-12
摘要： The mature human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope glycoprotein (Env) comprises the non-covalently associated gp120 and gp41 subunits generated from the gp160 precursor. Recent structural analyses have provided quaternary structural models for gp120/gp41 trimers, including the variable loops (V1-V5) of gp120. In these models, the V3 loop is located under V1/V2 at the apical center of the Env trimer, and the V4 and V5 loops project outward from the trimeric protomers. In addition, the V4 and V5 loops are predicted to have less movement upon receptor binding during membrane fusion events. We performed insertional mutagenesis using a GFP variant, GFPOPT, placed into the variable loops of HXB2 gp120. This allowed us to evaluate the current structural models and to simultaneously generate a GFP-tagged HIV-1 Env, which was useful for image analyses. All GFP-inserted mutants showed similar levels of whole-cell expression, although certain mutants, particularly V3 mutants, showed lower levels of cell surface expression. Functional evaluation of their fusogenicities in cell-cell and virus-like particle-cell fusion assays revealed that V3 was the most sensitive to the insertion and that the V1/V2 loops were less sensitive than V3. The V4 and V5 loops were the most tolerant to insertion, and certain tag proteins other than GFPOPT could also be inserted without functional consequences. Our results support the current structural models and provide a GFPOPT-tagged Env construct for imaging studies.
分类： 生物学 >> 生物物理学 提交时间： 2016-05-11
摘要： Herpes simplex virus (HSV) entry and cell-cell fusion require the envelope proteins gD, gH/gL and gB. We propose that receptor-activated conformational changes to gD activate gH/gL, which then triggers gB (the fusogen) into an active form. To study this dynamic process, we have adapted a dual split protein assay originally developed to study the kinetics of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) mediated fusion. This assay uses a chimera of split forms of renilla luciferase (RL) and green fluorescent protein (GFP). Effector cells are co-transfected with the glycoproteins and one of the split reporters. Receptor-bearing target cells are transfected with the second reporter. Co-culture results in fusion and restoration of RL, which can convert a membrane permeable substrate into a luminescent product, thereby enabling one to monitor initiation and extent of fusion in live cells in real time. Restoration of GFP can also be studied by fluorescence microscopy. Two sets of split reporters have been developed: the original one allows one to measure fusion kinetics over hours whereas the more recent version was designed to enhance the sensitivity of RL activity allowing one to monitor both initiation and rates of fusion in minutes. Here, we provide a detailed, step-by-step protocol for the optimization of the assay (which we call the SLA for split luciferase assay) using the HSV system. We also show several examples of the power of this assay to examine both the initiation and kinetics of cell-cell fusion by wild type forms of gD, gB, gH/gL of both serotypes of HSV as well as the effect of mutations and antibodies that alter the kinetics of fusion. The SLA can be applied to other viral systems that carry out membrane fusion. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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