Aviv Dombrovsky

• Ph.D
• Researcher at Agricultural Research Organization ARO

Background Plant breeding research heavily relies on wild species, which harbor valuable traits for modern agriculture. This work employed a new introgression population derived from Solanum pennellii (LA5240), a wild tomato native to Peru, composed of 1,900 genotyped backcross inbred lines (BILs_BC2S6) in the tomato inbreds LEA and TOP cultivated...

Silica (SiO2) particles are widely used in various industries due to their chemical inertness, thermal stability, and wear resistance. The present study describes the preparation and potential use of porous hydrophobic and hydrophilic SiO2 microcapsules (MCs) of a narrow size distribution. First, various layers of SiO2 micro/nano-particles (M/NPs)...

Background and aims Tobamoviruses are highly stable soil-borne pathogens posing a challenge to a monoculture practice. Biochemical and physical properties of tobamovirus virions were studied by analyses of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). Little is known about tomato brown rugose fruit tobamovirus (ToBRFV) regarding longevity in soil and virion stabilit...

During our search for aphid-pathogenic viruses, a comovirus was isolated from wild asymptomatic Brassica hirta (white mustard) plants harboring a dense population of Brevicoryne brassicae aphids. The transmission-electron-microscopy visualization of purified virions revealed icosahedral particles. The virus was mechanically transmitted to plants be...

Background and aims Tobamoviruses are highly stable soil-borne pathogens posing a challenge to a monoculture practice. Biochemical and physical properties of tobamovirus virions were studied by analyses of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). Little is known about tomato brown rugose fruit tobamovirus (ToBRFV) regarding longevity in soil and virion stabilit...

The soil‐borne virus known as tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) has a low rate of around 3% soil‐mediated infection when the soil has root debris from a previous 30–50 day development cycle of tomato plants infected with ToBRFV. This study presents anti‐viral coating formulations based on Pickering emulsion. The coating formulation is based...

Pathogens such as bacteria and viruses cause disease in a range of hosts, from humans to plants. Bacterial biofilms, communities of bacteria, e.g., Staphylococcus aureusand Escherichia coli, attached to the surface, create a protective layer that enhances their survival in harsh environments and resistance to antibiotics and the host’s immune syste...

High cannabidiol‐containing plants of Cannabis sativa (high‐CBD) growing in farms in Israel displayed foliar symptoms of interveinal chlorosis and yellowing, brittleness and occasionally necrosis. These symptoms, which were more apparent in older leaves, resembled those caused by the crinivirus lettuce chlorosis virus (LCV). However, this virus was...

Carrots collected from the Western Negev region in Israel during the winter of 2019 showed disease symptoms of chlorosis, leaf curling, a loss of apical dominance, and multiple lateral roots that were not associated with known pathogens of the carrot yellows disease. Symptomatic carrots were studied for a possible involvement of plant viruses in di...

Combined infection of the host plant with pathogens involving different parasitic lifestyles may result in synergistic effects that intensify disease symptoms. Understanding the molecular dynamics during concurrent infection provides essential insight into the host response. The transcriptomic pattern of cucumber plants infected with a necrotrophic...

It was investigated the efficiency of four innovative root-coating technologies in mitigating soil-mediated ToBRFV infection while avoiding any phytotoxic effect. It was found that under conditions of 100% soil-mediated ToBRFV infection of uncoated positive control plants, root-coating with our formulations showed very low percentages of soil-media...

Invasive weeds cause significant crop yield and economic losses in agriculture. The highest indirect impact may be attributed to the role of invasive weeds as virus reservoirs within commercial growing areas. The new tobamovirus tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV), first identified in the Middle East, overcame the Tm-2² resistance allele of cu...

The tobamovirus tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) infects tomato plants harboring the Tm-22 resistance allele, which corresponds with tobamoviruses’ avirulence (Avr) gene encoding the movement protein to activate a resistance-associated hypersensitive response (HR). ToBRFV has caused severe damage to tomato crops worldwide. Unlike tomato pla...

This study presents anti‐viral coating formulations based on Pickering emulsion. We used a versatile strategy to produce a stable Pickering emulsion by depletion interaction between an emulsion droplet and a particle using solvent‐soluble polymers as a depletant. This interaction facilitates the adsorption of particles onto the droplet interface an...

The efficiency of epitope-based vaccination (subunit vaccines) is tightly correlated with heterogeneity and the high density of epitope presentation, which maximizes the potential antigenic determinants. Here, we developed a two-mode platform for intensifying the epitope presentation of subunit vaccines. The two-mode epitope presentation enhancemen...

Invasive weeds cause significant crop yield and economic losses in agriculture. The highest in-direct impact may be attributed to the role of invasive weeds as virus reservoirs especially within the commercial growing areas. The new tobamovirus tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV), recently identified in the Middle-East, overcomes the Tm-22 res...

The tobamoviruses tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) and cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) have caused severe crop damages worldwide. Soil-mediated dispersion of the mechanically transmitted tobamoviruses constitute a major hindrance toward mitigating disease spread in crops carefully planted under sanitized conditions. Tobamoviruses...

Viruses of the Tobamovirus genus caused severe losses in many economically important crops, such as pepper, tomato, and cucurbits. Disease symptoms of the Tobamovirus tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) are visually detected about 10–14 days postinfection. During the “latent” asymptomatic period, infected plants constitute a primary source f...

Medical cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.) is quickly becoming a central agricultural crop as its production has continued to increase globally. The recent release of the cannabis reference genomes provides key genetic information for the functional analysis of cannabis genes. Currently, however, the established tools for in vivo gene functional analysi...

Greenhouse‐grown cucumber plants inspected during and following extreme variations in environmental temperatures showed new characteristics of cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) disease manifestations. An increasing occurrence of CGMMV disease recovery has been associated with a new phenotype identified at early stages of a reemerging disea...

Studies of early stages of cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) disease have been recently focused on plant molecular responses. However, extreme diurnal environmental temperatures, characteristic of global climate changes, could affect plant susceptibility and disease phenotype progression. Our studies of CGMMV disease progression, under sim...

Medical cannabis (MC) production is a rapidly expanding industry. Over the past ten years, many additional phytocannabinoids have been discovered and used for different purposes. MC was reported beneficial for the treatment of a variety of clinical conditions such as analgesia, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, Tourette's syndrome, epilepsy...

Background: The use of medical cannabis (MC) in the medical field has been expanding over the last decade, as more therapeutic beneficial properties of MC are discovered, ranging from general analgesics to anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial treatments. Together with the intensified utilization of MC, concerns regarding the safety of usage, espec...

A new virus belonging to the family Dicistroviridae was identified in the hibiscus-infesting cotton mealybug Phenacoccus solenopsis. Using high-throughput sequencing (HTS) on an Illumina HiSeq platform, a single contig of the complete genome sequence was assembled. The authenticity of the sequence obtained by HTS was validated by RT-PCR and Sanger...

Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) assigned to the genus Tobamovirus is considered a major disease cause of cucurbits worldwide. A primary route for CGMMV disease spread is via mechanical contact. The virus is highly stable and adheres to various agricultural equipment. In the current study, we examined means to inactivate the virus and red...

The tobamovirus tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV), a major threat to tomato production worldwide, has recently been documented in mixed infections with the potexvirus pepino mosaic virus (PepMV) CH2 strain in traded tomatoes in Israel. A study of greenhouse tomato plants in Israel revealed severe new viral disease symptoms including open unr...

The use of and research on medical cannabis (MC) is becoming more common, yet there are still many challenges regarding plant diseases of this crop. For example, there is a lack of formal and professional knowledge regarding fungi that infect MC plants, and practical and effective methods for managing the casual agents of disease are limited. The p...

During 2019, tomato fruits showing viral-like symptoms of marbled yellow spots were abundant in Israel. The new symptoms were distinctive from those typical of tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) infection but resembled symptoms of pepino mosaic virus (PepMV) infection. RT-PCR analysis and the serological tests (enzyme linked immunosorbent ass...

In a survey conducted in Cannabis sativa L. (cannabis) authorized farms in Israel, plants showed disease symptoms characteristic of nutrition deprivation. Interveinal chlorosis, brittleness, and occasional necrosis were observed in older leaves. Next generation sequencing analysis of RNA extracted from symptomatic leaves revealed the presence of le...

Many animal and plant viruses depend on arthropods for their transmission. Virus-vector interactions are highly specific and only one vector, or a group of vectors from the same family are able to transmit a given virus. Poleroviruses (Luteoviridae) are phloem-restricted RNA plant viruses, which are exclusively transmitted by aphids. Multiple aphid...

In the recent years, disease spread of old and newly evolved tobamoviruses has occurred worldwide, affecting production of various vegetable and ornamental crops. The tobamoviruses are highly stable plant viruses that could cause severe disease symptoms. The well-known tobamovirus Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) has recently caused sever...

Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV), genus Tobamovirus, is a major pathogen of cucurbits that primarily affects cucumber, melon, and watermelon crops. The aim of this study was to reveal the contribution of CGMMV-infected female flowers to disease spread. Using a fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) technique, we show that ovaries and ov...

Some diseases are caused by coinfection of several pathogens in the same plant. However, studies on the complexity of these coinfection events under different environmental conditions are scarce. Our ongoing research involves late wilting disease of cucumber caused by coinfection of Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) and Pythium spp. We spe...

The composition of a plant virome may represent spatiotemporal patterns of plant virus abundance. Using next generation sequencing, we investigated the viromes of watermelon fruits grown in two adjacent open fields located in Eastern Israel: Kalia and Mitzpe-Shalem. The two viromes were comprised of distinct virus species and genera. Studying spati...

The bumblebee Bombus terrestris is a beneficial pollinator extensively used in tomato production. Our hypothesis was that bumblebee hives collected from a Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) infected tomato greenhouse, preserve an infectious primary inoculum. Placing a bumblebee hive collected from a ToBRFV contaminated greenhouse, in a glass-...

Many virus classes infect various insect species and cause sub-lethal, asymptomatic and latent infections. A number of conventional methods for viral isolation have already been explored but they usually lack sensitivity. In the last decade, the next generation sequencing (NGS) with high-throughput sequencing (HTS) technology became available for n...

Reliable detection and identification of plant pathogens are essential for disease control strategies. Diagnostic methods commonly used to detect plant pathogens have limitations such as requirement of prior knowledge of the genome sequence, low sensitivity and are limited in ability to detect several pathogens simultaneously. The development of ad...

In September 2014, a new tobamovirus was discovered in Israel that was able to break Tm-2-mediated resistance in tomato that had lasted 55 years. The virus was isolated, and sequencing of its genome showed it to be tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV), a new tobamovirus recently identified in Jordan. Previous studies on mutant viruses that caus...

During October 2014, unfamiliar mild mosaic and mottling symptoms were identified on leaves of pepper (Capsicum chinense cv. Habanero) seedlings grown in the Arava valley in Israel 2–3 weeks post planting. Symptomatic plants were tested positive by ELISA using laboratory-produced antisera for tobamovirus species. Typical tobamovirus rod-shaped morp...

In the last decade, the phenomenon of late-wilting has increased in cucumber greenhouses during Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) epidemics. Because the wilting appears in defined patches accompanied by root rot, it was hypothesized that the phenomenon is caused by coinfection of soilborne pathogens and CGMMV. A field survey showed that 69...

Although the benefits of using grafted transplants are now fully recognized worldwide, the need to enlighten the scientific basis of rootstock-scion interactions under variable environmental pressures remains vital for extracting grafting-mediated crop improvement. This has prompted the COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Action F...

Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) was first described in 1935 infecting cucumber, making it one of the first plant viruses to be described. Its initial distribution occurred out of England to other countries. This was followed by its subsequent distribution from England and these other countries. This process increased slowly between 1935...

Automation of disease detection and monitoring can facilitate targeted and timely disease control, which can lead to increased yield, improved crop quality and reduction in the quantity of applied pesticides. Further advantages are reduced production costs, reduced exposure to pesticides for farm workers and inspectors and increased sustainability....

The Tobamovirus Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) is efficiently transmitted between plants by mechanical contact. So far, no clear evidence has been reported regarding the transmission potential of the virus by beneficial pollinator insects. In this study we have examined the capability of the well-known pollinator honey bee Apis mellifer...

An outbreak of a new disease infecting tomatoes occurred in October-November 2014 at the Ohad village in Southern Israel. Symptomatic plants showed a mosaic pattern on leaves accompanied occasionally by narrowing of leaves and yellow spotted fruit. The disease spread mechanically and rapidly reminiscent of tobamovirus infection. Epidemiological stu...

Electron micrograph illustration of viral particles observed in leaf-dip preparations. (A-B) Distribution of viral particles lengths as imaged by TEM showing variability in particle sizes. Arrows indicating larger than 300 nm long particles. (TIF)

Alignment of the nucleotide sequences encoding the RdRp (ORF2) of five tobamovirus selected species. Line 1: Tomato mosaic virus (ToMV1-2; DQ873692); line 2: Tomato mottle mosaic virus (MX5; KF477193); line 3: Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (TBRFV-Jo; KT383474); line 4: Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV; X68110); line 5: Israeli isolate of tomato brown ru...

Primer sets for next generation sequencing (NGS) validation. (DOCX)

Inoculation of susceptible Nicotiana tabacum cultivars with tested tomato plant extracts (bioassay). Local lesions developed on tabacum cultivars following sap-mechanical inoculation of infected tomato plant extracts on (A). N. tabacum cv. Rustica. (B). N. tabacum cv. Samsun. (TIF)

Non-infected tomato plants in field. (TIF)

Pepper plants harboring L1,3,4 hypersensitivity response (HR) to infection by the new tobamovirus isolate. (D) Necrotic lesions followed by dried apoptotic leaves. (E) HR symptoms developed following root inoculation demonstrating dried spots on stems leading to plant growth inhibition. (TIF)

The Tobamovirus Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) is considered a major risk for cucurbit crop production. In 2013, an outbreak of CGMMV in watermelon fields occurred in Israel causing severe crop damage. This event raised concern regarding the virus preservation potential in weeds within and surrounding cultivated cucurbit crops. Out of 1...

We report here the sequence of a new benyvirus found through mango cultivar Shelly RNA-seq analysis in Israel. This is the first virus strain reported in mango trees.

In spring 2014, unfamiliar watermelon disease symptoms were observed on 1,000 ha of watermelon plants (Citrullus lanatus Thunb.) growing in open fields in Jordan and Beit-She’an Valleys, Israel. These represented systemic wilt and yellowing of leaves with necrosis on leaves and stems, in some cases leading to plant dieback, fruit exocarp deteriorat...

Persistent plant viruses do not cause detectable symptoms in their plant hosts. In contrast, acute viruses cause symptoms and, in most cases, disease. Most bell pepper (Capsicum annuum) cultivars are infected with the persistent virus Bell pepper endomavints (BPEV). To study possible interactions between endornaviruses, the host, and acute viruses,...

Create species Brevicoryne brassicae virus in the genus Iflavirus, family Iflaviridae, order Picornavirales. Brevicoryne brassicae virus Brevicoryne brassicae virus - UK EF517277

Background Brevicoryne brassicae virus (BrBV) is a positive-strand genomic RNA virus which is unassigned tentative member of the genus Iflavirus. BrBv was first identified and characterized in the late 90’s in the cabbage aphid in the United Kingdom (UK) (J Gen Virol 88:2590–2595, 2007) and was fully sequenced, using random amplification of encapsi...

Robotic systems for disease detection in greenhouses are expected to improve disease control, increase yield, and reduce pesticide application. We present a robotic detection system for combined detection of two major threats of greenhouse bell peppers: Powdery mildew (PM) and Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV). The system is based on a manipulator,...

Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV), which belongs to the genus Tobamovirus, is a major pathogen of cucurbit crops grown indoors and in open fields. Currently, immunology (e.g., ELISA) and molecular amplification techniques (e.g., RT-PCR) are employed extensively for virus detection in plant tissues and commercial seed lots diagnostics. In t...

Since 2007, the tobamovirus Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) has become widespread in Israel, causing severe damage to trellised cucumber and melon in greenhouses and watermelon grown in open fields. To reduce disease damage below the economic threshold, this study focused on four objectives: (a) monitoring the patterns of virus distribut...

Powdery mildew and tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) are the two main threats to pepper plants (Capsicum annuum) grown in greenhouses causing severe damage and yield loss. The paper reports the development of a robotic disease monitoring system for early detection of both threats. The research faced several challenges as, currently, algorithms for p...

Heritability of acquired phenotypic traits is an adaptive evolutionary process that appears more complex than the basic allele selection guided by environmental pressure. In insects, the trans-generational transmission of epigenetic marks in clonal and/or sexual species is poorly documented. Aphids were used as a model to explore this feature becau...

The pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum has two modes of reproduction: parthenogenetic during the spring and summer and sexual in autumn. This ability to alternate between reproductive modes and the emergence of clonal populations under favorable conditions make this organism an interesting model for genetic and epigenetic studies. The pea aphid hosts di...

Ipomoviruses (genus Ipomovirus) are whitefly-transmitted viruses assigned to the family Potyviridae. They are characterized by filamentous flexible particles and a positive-sense single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA) genome. The viral genome is translated into a polyprotein precursor, which is processed into mature proteins and a short overlapping open read...

Tobamoviruses induce crop diseases that are responsible for significant economic losses around the world. Like other tobamoviruses, Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) forms highly stable particles that can persist for long periods on plant debris, in soil and on seed surfaces. These particles serve as a primary source of infection, infectin...

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is one of the most prevalent ornamental plants grown in private and public gardens. Hibiscus chlorotic ringspot virus (HCRSV) is a member of the Carmovirus genus, with a positive single-strand RNA that putatively encodes seven proteins. The complete genome of the first Israeli isolate of HCRSV, HCRSV-IL, comprises 3,908 nucle...

The tobamovirus, Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) causes severe disease of cucurbits worldwide. The typical symptoms in watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) including leaf mottling and mosaic have been reported in greenhouse-grown plants (Varveri et al., 2002, Shim et al., 2005), but these symptoms are masked in plants growing in open fields. F...

We determined the complete sequence and organization of the genome of a putative member of the genus Polerovirus tentatively named Pepper yellow leaf curl virus (PYLCV). PYLCV has a wider host range than Tobacco vein-distorting virus (TVDV) and has a close serological relationship with Cucurbit aphid-borne yellows virus (CABYV) (both poleroviruses)...

Alignment of the deduced amino acid sequences corresponding to the ORF0s of Pepper yellow leaf curl virus [PYLCV (HM439608)] and the two poleroviruses Pepper vein yellows virus [PeVYV (AB5948280)] and Tobacco vein-distorting virus [TVDV (EF529624)]. (TIF)

Phylogenetic analysis of selected poleroviruses based on the deduced amino acid sequences of the ORF5 of Potato leaf curl virus [PLRV (Y07496)], Tobacco vein-distorting virus [TVDV (EF529624)], Cucurbit aphid-borne yellows virus [CABYV (X76931)], Pepper vein yellows virus [PeVYV (AB5948280)], Pepper yellow leaf curl virus [PYLCV (HM439608)]. Each p...

Alignment of the deduced amino acid sequences of the ORF4s of the poleroviruses Pepper yellow leaf curl virus [PYLCV (HM439608)], Pepper vein yellows virus [PeVYV (AB5948280)], Pepper yellows virus [PepYV (FN600344)], Tobacco vein-distorting virus [TVDV (EF529624)], Potato leaf curl virus [PLRV (Y07496)] and Cucurbit aphid-borne yellows virus [CABY...

Alignment of the deduced amino acid sequences of the N-termini of the ORF5s (CABYV-like region) of the poleroviruses Pepper yellow leaf curl virus [PYLCV (HM439608)], Pepper vein yellows virus [PeVYV (AB5948280)], Cucurbit aphid-borne yellows virus [CABYV (X76931)], Potato leaf curl virus [PLRV (Y07496)] and Tobacco vein-distorting virus [TVDV (EF5...

A novel virus was detected in watermelon plants (Citrullus lanatus Thunb.) infected with Melon necrotic spot virus (MNSV) using SOLiD next-generation sequence analysis. In addition to the expected MSNV genome, two double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) segments of 1,312 and 1,118 bp were also identified and sequenced from the purified virus preparations. Thes...

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Assembly Analysis pipline for SOLiD v. v.2.0 Sequencing Technology :: SOLiD ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Assembly Analysis pipline for SOLiD v. v.2.0 Sequencing Technology :: SOLiD ##Assembly-Data-END##

In a survey that was conducted during the year 2011, a local strain of Aphid lethal paralysis virus (ALPV) was identified and isolated from a wild population of Aphis nerii aphids living on Nerium oleander plants located in northern Israel. The new strain was tentatively named (ALPV-An). RNA extracted from the viral particles allowed the amplificat...

The aims of the present study were to further characterize the causal agent of a new viral disease of aubergines in Israel, first observed in 2003 and tentatively named eggplant mild leaf mottle virus (EMLMV) in a previous work, and to identify the vector responsible for its spread. The disease could be transmitted mechanically from infected source...

Carotenoids are compounds synthesized in plants, bacteria and fungi, closely associated to the chlorophyll to perform photosynthesis. A spectacular evolutionary achievement allowed the aphid to produce carotenoids obviously by lateral transfer of genes from fungi. We have recently documented that these molecules are involved in photo conditioning o...

A singular adaptive phenotype of a parthenogenetic insect species (Acyrthosiphon pisum) was selected in cold conditions and is characterized by a remarkable apparition of a greenish colour. The aphid pigments involve carotenoid genes well defined in chloroplasts and cyanobacteria and amazingly present in the aphid genome, likely by lateral transfer...

Supplementary dataset S1-S6