2. Academic Validation
  3. Metabolic profiling unravels the effects of enhanced output and harvesting time on royal jelly quality

Metabolic profiling unravels the effects of enhanced output and harvesting time on royal jelly quality

  • Food Res Int. 2021 Jan;139:109974. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2020.109974.
Chuan Ma 1,  Licui Zhang 2,  Mao Feng 3,  Yu Fang 4,  Han Hu 5,  Bin Han 6,  Lifeng Meng 7,  Jianke Li 8
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100093, China. Electronic address: machuan@caas.cn.
  • 2 Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100093, China. Electronic address: 604011320@qq.com.
  • 3 Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100093, China. Electronic address: fengm622@163.com.
  • 4 Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100093, China. Electronic address: jskyp@126.com.
  • 5 Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100093, China. Electronic address: wuhan_hh@126.com.
  • 6 Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100093, China. Electronic address: hanbin_bee@163.com.
  • 7 Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100093, China. Electronic address: menglifengf@126.com.
  • 8 Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100093, China. Electronic address: apislijk@126.com.
PMID: 33509520 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2020.109974
Abstract

Royal jelly (RJ), a natural secretion of nurse bees, is a functional food with health-promoting properties. To investigate RJ quality changes with enhanced output and harvesting time, we compared metabolic profiles of RJ harvested at 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h after larval grafting into queen cells from Italian bees (ITBs) and high RJ-producing bees (RJBs) selected from ITBs. A total of 77 high-abundance compounds were identified with reverse-phase liquid chromatography- and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry. Metabolite abundance, water content, and Antibacterial activity were found largely unchanged between both bee strains, indicating that a similar RJ quality was achieved. Notably, the observed 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid content in RJBs (1.98%) and ITBs (2.41%) meet the standard for premium RJ in China. RJ harvested at 48 h and 72 h had similar metabolic profiles, indicating little influence of the two harvesting times on RJ quality. The harvesting at 24 h could lead to a higher RJ quality with higher abundance levels of many bioactive compounds and lower water content. Our data based mainly on RJ metabolic composition constitute evidence for mass production of high-quality RJ.

Keywords

Antibacterial activity; Harvesting time; Honeybee strain; Mass spectrometry; Metabolomics; Royal jelly.

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