Victoria Soroker

Agricultural Research Organization ARO | aro · Institute of Plant Protection

The haplodiploid sex determination of honey bees and the multiple mating of queens pose challenges in determining the genetic contribution of drones (male honey bees). This is especially important for breeding programs as, for example, when attempting to reinforce traits governing social immunity against pests and diseases. Here, we focused on bree...

Systematic and dynamic monitoring of species is often performed at preferential locations. Thus, while models of spatial distributions assume evenly distributed spatial sampling, sampling designs are often clustered, resulting in biased estimates. Therefore, spatial declustering methods should be used to reduce bias, for example when quantifying th...

Nosema ceranae is a highly prevalent intracellular parasite of honey bees’ midgut worldwide. This Microsporidium was monitored during a long-term study to evaluate the infection at apiary and intra-colony levels in six apiaries in four Mediterranean countries (France, Israel, Portugal, and Spain). Parameters on colony strength, honey production, be...

This article presents managed honey bee colony loss rates over winter 2019/20 resulting from using the standardised COLOSS questionnaire in 37 countries. Six countries were from outside Europe, including, for the first time in this series of articles, New Zealand. The 30,491 beekeepers outside New Zealand reported 4.5% of colonies with unsolvable q...

To understand the role of two Niemann-Pick type C2 (NPC2) transcripts, Vd40090 (NP1) and Vd74517 (NP5), in the chemosensing pathway of Varroa destructor, we evaluated the impact of NP5 silencing on mites behavior and compared the effect of silencing of either transcripts on the interaction between chemosensory transcripts. In contrast to silencing...

Honey bee colonies are prone to invasion by pests and pathogens. The combination of the parasitic mite Varroa destructor (Varroa) and the multiple viruses it vectors, is a major driver of colony losses. Breeding for hygienic behavior to reduce Varroa populations is considered a sustainable way to reduce the impact of Varroa on honey bee health. How...

In the present study, the female O. longicollis antennal transcriptome was constructed by Illumina Hiseq 2500 sequencing, with the aim of discovering olfaction related genes. Totally 12, 411 unigenes were identified from the transcriptome assembly and the putative genes functions were annotated using gene ontology tools. We identified 46 putative c...

Honey bees are exposed to a variety of risk factors, among which the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor and its associated viruses are considered to be the most significant problem worldwide. It has been widely recognized that honey bee stocks resistant to mites are an essential part of any sustainable long-term management of Varroa. The aim of t...

Functional genomics is an essential tool for elucidating the structure and function of genes in any living organism. Here, we review the use of different gene manipulation techniques in functional genomics of Acari (mites and ticks). Some of these Acari species inflict severe economic losses to managed crops and health problems to humans, wild and...

In this study, we gathered sequence data from the tRNAleu-cox2 intergenic mitochondrial (mtDNA) region concurrently with single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data from 91 loci of nuclear DNA (ncDNA). The data was obtained from 156 colonies sampled in six apiaries from four countries. The full dataset was analysed and discussed for genetic patterns...

Different brood interruption methods combined with chemical treatment may successfully remove most V. destructor from the honey bee colonies. Further, the timely brood reduction or break may positively impact nectar intake and is occasionally used by beekeepers during the main spring flow to increase honey production. However, the experience and da...

With a growing number of parasites and pathogens experiencing large-scale range expansions, monitoring diversity in immune genes of host populations has never been so important because it can inform on the adaptive potential to resist the invaders. Population surveys of immune genes are becoming common in many organisms, yet they are missing in the...

There is accumulating evidence that male insects advertise their quality to conspecific females through pheromones. However, most studies of female released sex pheromone assume information transfer regarding merely the species of the female and her mating status. We show that more information is conveyed through the female sex pheromone, positioni...

We focused our study on the twelve recently identified putative odorant carrier proteins in the ectoparasitic mite, Varroa destructor. Here we show, via an exclusion of the chemosensory appendages (forelegs and gnathosoma), that transcripts of five of the twelve genes were significantly lower, suggesting that they are likely involved in carrying ho...

In this study, we analyzed the transcriptome obtained from the pheromone gland isolated from two Israeli populations of the pink bollworm Pectinophora gossypiella to identify viral sequences. The lab population and the field samples carried the same viral sequences. We discovered four novel viruses: two positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses, P...

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are exposed to a variety of risk factors, but the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor and its associated viruses are considered to be the most significant problem worldwide. It has been widely recognized that honey bee stocks resistant to the mites are an essential part of any sustainable long-term management of Varroa....

There is accumulating evidence that male insects advertise their quality to conspecific females through pheromones. However, most studies of female released sex pheromone assume information transfer regarding merely the species of the female and her mating status. We show that more and precise information is conveyed through the female sex pheromon...

As the larvae of the date palm pest, the red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, feeds on the host tissue, they emit a distinctive sound which can be recorded outside of the infected tree. We evaluated the response of infective juveniles (IJs) of the entomopathogenic nematodes Steinernema carpocapsae to the R. ferrugineus larvae and it’s sound...

Background RNA interference (RNAi) is a highly conserved, sequence-specific gene silencing mechanism present in Eukaryotes. Three RNAi pathways are known, namely micro-RNA (miRNA), piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) and short interfering RNA (siRNA). However, little knowledge exists about the proteins involved in these pathways in Acari. Moreover, variab...

The socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 on society have yet to be truly revealed; there is no doubt that the pandemic has severely affected the daily lives of most of humanity. It is to be expected that the research activities of scientists could be impacted to varying degrees, but no data exist on how COVID-19 has affected research specifically. He...

The ectoparasitic mite, Varroa destructor Anderson and Trueman (Acar: Varroidae), is a major threat for the honey bee, Apis mellifera L. Varroa behavior and physiology are influenced by compounds produced by the honey bee, as well as cues from the general colony environment. As part of our effort to disrupt varroa host chemosensing, we tested 1-all...

Background RNA interference (RNAi) is a highly conserved, sequence-specific gene silencing mechanism present in Eukaryotes. Three RNAi pathways critical for organismal development and survival are known, namely micro-RNA (miRNA), Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) and short interfering RNA (siRNA) pathways. Little knowledge exist about the genes involved...

Background RNA interference (RNAi) is a highly conserved, sequence-specific gene silencing mechanism present in Eukaryotes. Three RNAi pathways critical for organismal development and survival are known, namely micro-RNA (miRNA), Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) and short interfering RNA (siRNA) pathways. Little knowledge exist about the genes involved...

Background: RNA interference (RNAi) is a highly conserved, sequence-specific gene silencing mechanism present in Eukaryotes. Three RNAi pathways are known, namely micro-RNA (miRNA), piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) and short interfering RNA (siRNA). However, little knowledge exists about the proteins involved in these pathways in Acari. Moreover, varia...

Background RNA interference (RNAi) is a highly conserved, sequence-specific gene silencing mechanism present in Eukaryotes. Three RNAi pathways are known, namely micro-RNA (miRNA), Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) and short interfering RNA (siRNA). However, little knowledge exists about the proteins involved in these pathways in Acari. Moreover, variab...

Olfaction as well as gustation, are essential for animal survival, allowing behavioral modulation according to environmental input. We focused our study on an obligate ecto-parasitic mite of honey bees, the Varroa destructor Anderson and Trueman (Parasitiformes, Mesostigmata, Varroidae). By mechanically blocking the main olfactory organ on Varroa f...

The red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, an oligophagous borer that specifically attacks the Arecaceae family, poses a serious threat to commercial and ornamental palms. Originally from tropical Asia, the RPW has spread to Africa and Europe, reaching the Mediterranean region 30 year ago. Characterizing its spread is a key aspect of eff...

The pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella, is a world-wide pest of cotton and in some parts of the cotton growing region is controlled by the mating disruption technique using synthetic sex pheromone. The sex pheromone consists of two compounds, (Z,Z)- and (Z,E)-7,11-hexadecadienyl acetates, in about a 50:50 ratio. However, recently, a population...

This short article presents loss rates of honey bee colonies over winter 2017/18 from 36 countries, including 33 in Europe, from data collected using the standardized COLOSS questionnaire. The 25,363 beekeepers supplying data passing consistency checks in total wintered 544,879 colonies, and reported 26,379 (4.8%, 95% CI 4.7–5.0%) colonies with uns...

The mite Varroa destructor Anderson & Trueman (Acari: Varroidae) is a major global threat to the European honeybee Apis mellifera. The mite is an obligatory ectoparasite. It feeds on the hemolymph of bees and also serves as an active vector for pathogenic viruses, which have become more abundant and virulent since the invasion of the mite. The Varr...

Nosema ceranae is a hot topic in honey bee health as reflected by numerous papers published every year. This review presents an update of the knowledge generated in the last 12 years in the field of N. ceranae research, addressing the routes of transmission, population structure and genetic diversity. This includes description of how the infection...

Honey bee (Apis mellifera) has a thousand years of history in this part of Asia. The native honey bee race is considered to be A. mellifera syriaca. This subspecies was generally replaced by a more docile subspecies A. mellifera ligustica, but members of other subspecies are also occasionally introduced. Only about parts of the country area are sui...

The red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus; Olivier, 1790) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) has recently become the most severe palm pest in the Mediterranean basin. Its dispersal was initially supported mainly by the acquisition of infested trees, but was further facilitated by the weevils’ flight. Therefore, knowledge of weevils’ flight capacity i...

em>Nosema ceranae is a hot topic in honey bee health as reflected by numerous papers published every year. This review presents an update of the knowledge generated in the last 12 years in the field of N. ceranae research, addressing the routes of transmission, population structure and genetic diversity. This includes description of how the infecti...

Predicting the dispersal of pest insects is important for pest management schemes. Flight-mills provide a simple way to evaluate the flight potential of insects, but there are several complications in relating tethered-flight to natural flight. We used high-speed video to evaluate the effect of flight-mill design on flight of the red palm weevil (R...

Raw data. Data derived from the flight-mill and flapping kinematics. These data are used to derive the conclusions of the study. (XLSX)

Supporting video. High-speed movie showing free flying red palm weevils making banked turns while circulating a lamp. (MP4)

Chemosensing is a primary sense in nature, however little is known about its mechanism in Chelicerata. As a model organism we used the mite Varroa destructor, a key parasite of honeybees. Here we describe a transcriptomic analysis of two physiological stages for the Varroa foreleg, the site of primary olfactory organ. The transcriptomic analysis re...

Background: Pear psylla is a major obstacle to efficient integrated pest management in pear orchards in Israel and around the world. We used two accessions with natural resistance to pear psylla Cacopsylla bidens (Šulc) - Py.760-261 and Py.701-202 - as interstock grafts to confer psylla resistance to the commercially important 'Spadona Estiva' sci...

Ant attendance, well known behavior form towards aphid species was studied in case of the banana aphid Pentalonia nigronervosa Coquerel (Hemiptera: Aphididae) populations in four plantations in the coastal area of Carmel (Israel), where the aphid is a major pest on banana. The study characterizes the ant community the extent of attendance and the n...

SMARTBEES פרוטוקול לבדיקת ביצועים תרגום

The tropical fig borer, Batocera rufomaculata De Geer, is a large beetle that is a pest on a number of fruit trees, including fig and mango. Adults feed on the leaves and twigs and females lay their eggs under the bark of the tree. The larvae bore into the tree trunk, causing substantial damage that may lead to the collapse and death of the host tr...

The red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, has been known as a pest for more than one century in its native area. RPW are sex dimorphic. All the stages of RPW live on palms, and more specifically in palm tissues. This chapter reviews current knowledge, recent advances, and yet undetermined features regarding the life cycle and the host p...

• Seasonal changes in reproductive state were investigated in the pear psylla Cacopsylla bidens (Šulc), with a particular emphasis on the evaluation of reproductive diapause during autumn and winter. • Changes in reproductive status were observed in both seasons in populations living at four altitudes: 70, 300, 700 and 730 m. Winterform psylla fema...

Background: The optimization of the lure is essential for the implementation of trapping systems to control insect pests. In this work, the response of the red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier, to increasing emission rates of its aggregation pheromone (ferrugineol) and the efficacy of a convenient synthetic kairomone based on f...

Red palm weevil (RPW) ecology is characterized by the adults' ability to aggregate on palms. The aggregation process has the functions of protection, feeding, and reproduction for the individuals. Semiochemicals and visual cues strongly influence this behavior at intraspecific and interspecific levels. Adults actively fly over long distances, follo...

Rapid development in the area of information systems has enabled the use of mobile devices for ubiquitous computing. Location services are essential features of context awareness in computing environments and can facilitate the monitoring and management of problems with spatiotemporal characteristics. Location-aware systems (LAS) are information sy...

Management of any pest requires accurate information on the pest population, forecasting its dispersal and evaluating the success of eradication efforts. Preventing further spread of invasive pests requires monitoring, especially at ports of entry and at new infestation foci. Both the red palm weevil (RPW) and palm borer moth (PBM) develop inside t...

In this short note we present comparable loss rates of honey bee colonies during winter 2015/16 from 29 countries, obtained with the COLOSS questionnaire. Altogether, we received valid answers from 19,952 beekeepers. These beekeepers collectively wintered 421,238 colonies, and reported 18,587 colonies with unsolvable queen problems and 32,048 dead...

The invasion of Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (red palm weevil, RPW) and Paysandisia archon (palm borer moth, PBM) in the Mediterranean Basin is a major problem for date palm growers and landscape managers, agriculturists, and gardeners, who need to manage these pests. Accurate detection of early infestations is important for the survival of the infest...

The spread of invasive alien species is strongly associated with the rapid acceleration of human trade, tourism, transport, and travel over the past century, which have allowed these species to overcome natural geographic barriers. The best strategy to prevent the spread of invasive species is quarantine and eradication of initial foci. However, wh...

The forestry, agriculture and horticulture industries in Europe are under increasing risk from established and invasive pests due to environmental change and the globalization of trade. This book focuses on two invasive insect pests, the red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Red Palm Weevil, RPW) and the moth Paysandisia archon (Palm Borer Mot...

The preparation of enantiopure conformationally restricted alicyclic ethers and their inhibitory activities on the chemosensory organ of the Varroa destructor, a parasite of honey bees, are reported in this article. We tested the effect of enantiopure ethers of cis 5-(2'-hydroxyethyl)cyclopent-2-en-1-ol on the Varroa chemosensory organ by electroph...

Honey bees and their ectoparasite Varroa destructor communicate through chemical signals among themselves, but they also eavesdrop on each other’s chemical cues. We summarize semiochemicals of honey bees and Varroa, and their roles in honey bee-Varroa interactions. We also give an overview of current Varroa control methods, which can be classified...

The red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, is a major pest of various palm species including dates and Canary palms. The weevil’s larvae develop within the tree stem and crown, damage its vascular system and eventually cause the death of the tree. Early detection of the RPW infestation is particularly challenging as the pests develop wit...

Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (red palm weevil) is highly susceptible to infection by the entomopathogenic nematodes Steinernema carpocapsae and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora. However, to reach and penetrate the insect in its habitat with good efficacy, the nematode infective juveniles (IJs) need to move through the tunnels bored by the feeding insect...

The ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor is one of the major threats to apiculture. Using a behavioural choice bioassay, we determined that phoretic mites were more successful in reaching a bee than reproductive mites, suggesting an energy trade-off between reproduction and host selection. We used both chemo-ecological and molecular strategies to i...

This chapter covers general concepts of semiochemical implementations in pest management and the work done on the identification and use of semiochemicals for the management of date palm pests. Within the semiochemicals, pheromones are usually species specific and non-toxic to the environment. This makes pheromones in particular valuable components...

The red palm weevil (RPW) is a palm borer insect that develops within the soft tissues of the trunk and crown, eventually leading to tree death. Early detection of RPW infestation is crucial. The RPW larvae developing inside the palm and direct visual detection of the infestation is quite difficult. The hypothesis was that the tunneling insects des...