Field of Research: Postharvest Phytopathology

Research interests:
• Postharvest disease control
• Fruit-pathogen interactions
• Fungal physiology

Methods used:
Mycology, Molecular microbiology, Transcriptomics, Proteomics, Metabolomics, Bioinformatics, Microscopy and Biochemistry.

Ongoing projects

1.  Uncovering the molecular basis for chilling tolerance of the phytopathogenic fungi Botrytis cinerea and Alternaria alternata.

2. The effect of postharvest handling on nutritional values of acorn squash fruits.

3. Evaluating the effect of pre- and post- harvest treatments on long term storage of pumpkins and carrots.

4. Evaluating the effect of calcium spraying on fruit quality, susceptibility to gray mold disease and shelf life of pepper fruit.

5. Uncovering to cause of pumpkins fruit rot during storage and determining the effect of viruses on fruit susceptibility to fruit rot disease

Team

Current lab members:

Ginat Raphael - Reasech Assistant & Lab Manager

Dr. Charles Kranow - Postdoc (HUJI)

Dr. Durga Prasad - Postdoc (HUJI)

Gladys Karungari - PhD Student (HUJI)

Amit Raz Magid - PhD Student (HUJI)

Nadav Smila - Master Student (HUJI)

Benaya Zini - Master Student (HUJI)

Felipe Cohen - Student (HUJI)

Alumni:

Dr. Dilip Kumar - PostDoc (ARO) 

Alberto Rafael Paez Redondo- Visiting PhD student (National University of Colombia at Medellin)

Fabiola Yudelevich - Lab Manager

Ayobami Adeeko - Master Student (HUJI)

Dr. Kamal Tyagi - Postdoc (ARO)

Kailee Shlipak - Visiting student (University of Southern California)

Raphael Sapir - Student (HUJI)

Nofar Zandani - Student (Hadassa Academic College)

Dr. Lavanya Gunamalai - PostDoc (ARO)

Damilola Clementine Olaewe - Master Student (HUJI)

Eitan Fass - Master Student (HUJI)

Chen Offen - Student (Ariel University)

Prof. Parveen Sharma - Visiting Scientist (CSK-Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University)

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Ziv group - May 2023

Ziv group - March 2023

Ziv group - September 2022 - Happy New Year

Ziv group - Spring Picnic April 2022

Ziv group - August 2021

Ziv group - March 2021

Ziv group - May 2020

The Ziv Lab - Sept 2019

Lab Trip Feb 2019 to South of Israel

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Selected publications

Full list in Google scholar

Kornreich-Leshem, H., C. Ziv, E. Gumienna-Kontecka, R. Arad-Yellin, Y. Chen, M. Elhabiri, A. M. Albrecht-Gary, Y. Hadar, and A. Shanzer. 2005. Ferrioxamine B analogues: targeting the FoxA uptake system in the pathogenic Yersinia enterocolitica. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 127:1137-1145.

Scheffer, J., C. Ziv, O. Yarden, and P. Tudzynski. 2005. The COT1 homologue CPCOT1 regulates polar growth and branching and is essential for pathogenicity in Claviceps purpurea. Fungal Genet. Biol. 42:107-118. Featured on the cover

Divon, H. H., C. Ziv, O. Davydov, O. Yarden, and R. Fluhr. 2006. The global nitrogen regulator, FNR1, regulates fungal nutrition-genes and fitness during Fusarium oxysporum pathogenesis. Mol. Plant Pathol. 7:485-497.

Maerz, S., C. Ziv, N. Vogt, K. Helmstaedt, N. Cohen, R. Gorovits, O. Yarden, and S. Seiler. 2008. The nuclear Dbf2-related kinase COT1 and the mitogen-activated protein kinases MAK1 and MAK2 genetically interact to regulate filamentous growth, hyphal fusion and sexual development in Neurospora crassa. Genetics 179:1313-1325.

Ziv, C., R. Gorovits, and O. Yarden. 2008. Carbon source affects PKA-dependent polarity of Neurospora crassa in a CRE-1-dependent and independent manner. Fungal Genet. Biol. 45:103-116.

Ziv, C., G. Kra-Oz, R. Gorovits, S. Marz, S. Seiler, and O. Yarden. 2009. Cell elongation and branching are regulated by differential phosphorylation states of the nuclear Dbf2-related kinase COT1 in Neurospora crassa. Mol. Microbiol. 74:974-989.

Dvash, E., G. Kra-Oz, C. Ziv, S. Carmeli, and O. Yarden. 2010. The NDR kinase DBF-2 is Involved in Regulation of Mitosis, Conidial Development and Glycogen Metabolism in Neurospora crassa. Eukaryot. Cell 9:502-513. Featured on the cover

Salame, T. M., C. Ziv, Y. Hadar, and O. Yarden. 2010. RNAi as a potential tool for biotechnological applications in fungi. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 89:501-512.

Ziv, C., D. Feldman, L. Aharoni-Kats, S. Chen, Y. Liu. and O. Yarden. 2013. The N-terminal region of the Neurospora NDR kinase COT1 regulates morphology via its interactions with MOB2A/B. Mol. Microbiol. 90:383-399.

Feldman, D., C. Ziv, R. Gorovits, M. Efrat, and O. Yarden. 2013. Neurospora crassa protein arginine methyl transferases are involved in growth and development and interact with the NDR kinase COT1. PLoS One. 8: e80756.

Ziv C. , S. Malitsky, A. Othman, S. Ben-Dor,., Y. Wei, S. Zheng, A. Aharoni, T. Hornemann and A. Vardi. 2016. Viral serine palmitoyltransferase induces metabolic switch in sphingolipid biosynthesis and is required for infection of a marine alga. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 113: E1907-1916.

Rosenwasser, S., Ziv, C., Creveld, S.G., and Vardi, A. 2016. Virocell Metabolism: Metabolic Innovations During Host-Virus Interactions in the Ocean. Trends Microbiol. 24, 821-832.

Malitsky S., C. Ziv. , S. Rosenwasser, S. Zheng., D. Schatz, Z. Porat, S. Ben-Dor, A. Aharoni and A. Vardi. 2016. Viral infection of the marine alga Emiliania huxleyi triggers lipidome remodeling and induces the production of highly saturated triacylglycerol. New phytol. 210:88-96

Ziv, C., Zhao, Z., Gao, Y.G., and Xia, Y. 2018. Multifunctional Roles of Plant Cuticle During Plant-Pathogen Interactions. Front Plant Sci 9, 1088.

Sadhasivam, S., O. Shapiro C. Ziv, V. Zakin, and E. Sionov. 2019 Synergistic inhibition of mycotoxigenic fungi and mycotoxin production by combination of pomegranate peel extract and azole fungicide. Front microbial 10: 1919.

Schleyer, G., N. Shahaf, C. Ziv. et al., 2019. In plaque-mass spectrometry imaging of a bloom-forming alga during viral infection reveals a metabolic shift towards odd-chain fatty acid lipids. Nat Microbiol 4: 527-538.

Tzortzakis, N., Alkan, N., Ziv, C., and L. Korsten. 2019. "Postharvest Diseases of Fresh Horticultural Produce: Solanaceae and Cucurbitaceae Crops," in Postharvest Pathology of Fresh Horticultural Produce, eds. L. Palou & J.L. Smilanick. (USA: CRC Press).

Fallik, E. and C. Ziv 2020 "How rootstock/scion combinations affect watermelon fruit quality after harvest?" J. Sci. Food Agric. 8: 3275-3282.

Ziv, C., Kumar, D., Sela, N., Itkin, M., Malitsky, S., Schaffer, A.A., and Prusky, D.B. 2020. Sugar-regulated susceptibility of tomato fruit to Colletotrichum and Penicillium requires differential mechanisms of pathogenicity and fruit responses. Environ Microbiol 22: 2870-2891.

Adeeko, A.; Yudelevich, F.; Raphael, G.; Avraham, L.; Alon, H.; Presman Zaaroor, M.; Alkalai-Tuvia, S.; Paris, H.S.; Fallik, E.; Ziv, C. 2020. Quality and Storability of Trellised Greenhouse-Grown, Winter-Harvested, New Sweet Acorn Squash Hybrids. Agronomy10: 1443.

Ziv, C., and Fallik, E. 2021. Postharvest Storage Techniques and Quality Evaluation of Fruits and Vegetables for Reducing Food Loss. Agronomy 11: 1133.

Krasnow, C.S.; Raphael, G.; Ziv C. 2022. First Report of Fruit Rot of Sweet Pepper Caused by Cladosporium cladosporioides in Israel. Plant Dis 

Krasnow, C.; Ziv C. 2022. Non-Chemical Approaches to Control Postharvest Gray Mold Disease in Bell Peppers. Agronomy 12, 216.

Ziv, C., Lers, A., Fallik, E., and Paran, I. 2022. Genetic and biotechnological tools to identify breeding targets for improving postharvest quality and extending shelf life of peppers. Current Opinion in Biotechnology 78: 102794

Tietel, Z., Hammann, S., Meckelmann, S.W., Ziv, C., Pauling, J.K., Wölk, M., et al. 2023 An overview of food lipids toward food lipidomics. Compr Rev Food Sci Food Saf.

Schleyer, G., Kuhlisch, C., Ziv, C., Ben-Dor, S., Malitsky, S., Schatz, D., et al. 2023 Lipid biomarkers for algal resistance to viral infection in the ocean. PNAS .120(27):e2217121120.

Krasnow, C.S., Raphael, G., Olaewe, D., Ziv, C. 2023 Fludioxonil and low temperature inhibit growth of isolated from sweet pepper postharvest. J Plant Pathol.

Krasnow, .C.S, Ziv, C., Nitzan, N. 2023 First Report of Alternaria alternata Causing Decay in Exported Sweet Basil During Freight from Israel to Europe. Plant Dis.