A Look into the Cell: Honey Storage in Honey Bees, Apis mellifera

Abstract

Honey bees, Apis species, obtain carbohydrates from nectar and honeydew. These resources are ripened into honey in wax cells that are capped for long-term storage. These stores are used to overcome dearth periods when foraging is not possible. Despite the economic and ecological importance of honey, little is known about the processes of its production by workers. Here, we monitored the usage of storage cells and the ripening process of honey in free-flying A. mellifera colonies. We provided the colonies with solutions of different sugar concentrations to reflect the natural influx of nectar with varying quality. Since the amount of carbohydrates in a solution affects its density, we used computer tomography to measure the sugar concentration of cell content over time. The data show the occurrence of two cohorts of cells with different provisioning and ripening dynamics. The relocation of the content of many cells before final storage was part of the ripening process, because sugar concentration of the content removed was lower than that of content deposited. The results confirm the mixing of solutions of different concentrations in cells and show that honey is an inhomogeneous matrix. The last stage of ripening occurred when cell capping had already started, indicating a race against water absorption. The storage and ripening processes as well as resource use were context dependent because their dynamics changed with sugar concentration of the food. Our results support hypotheses regarding honey production proposed in earlier studies and provide new insights into the mechanisms involved.

Natural Products and Their Bioactive Compounds: Neuroprotective Potentials against Neurodegenerative Diseases

“…Since the last two decades, honey has been explored for its gastroprotective, hepatoprotective, reproductive, hypoglycemic, antioxidant, antihypertensive, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, wound healing, cardioprotective, and antitumor effects [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40]. In general, pure honey contains over 200 compounds, consisting mainly of carbohydrates (monosaccharides: glucose and fructose; disaccharides: sucrose and maltose), protein (amino acids and enzymes), minerals, vitamins (vitamin B6, riboflavin, niacin, and thiamine), phenolic compounds (flavonoids and phenolic acids), and volatile substance (responsible for the characteristic aroma of honey) [41][42][43][44][45][46]. In kainic acid-induced excitotoxicity animal model, pretreatment with honey significantly attenuated oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and apoptosis in the cerebral cortex, cerebellum, and brainstem as well as progression of neuronal damage in the piriform cortex of kainic acid-induced rats [47][48][49].…”

Lithium contamination of honeybee products and its accumulation in brood as a consequence of anti-varroa treatment

“…Lithium is delivered to the honeybee colony dissolved in feed (e.g., sucrose syrup), which is transformed to the primary form of carbohydrate storage, the honey, thus linking the honeybee and human food chains. It has often been demonstrated that honeybee feed ends up in extracted honey due to the storage behavior of honeybees (Eyer et al, 2016), making food chain coupling likely. The present paper addresses some of the concerns above, namely lithium presence in honey, in bee bread, and in honeybee larvae due to feeding with sucrose syrup containing dissolved lithium chloride.…”

“…The sucrose syrup is transformed by workers into honey and stored in the brood chamber. Leftover food stores are a possible source of contamination: it is well known phenomenon that honeybees transfer honey stores between combs and hive compartments, especially in season during the honey flow when bees transfer stores during the process of nectar conversion to honey and drying(Eyer et al, 2016, Kandolf- Borovšak, 2019…”

X‐ray computed tomography and its potential in ecological research: A review of studies and optimization of specimen preparation

“…Another field with considerable usage of X-ray CT is the study of social insects and their nest or gallery systems. Here, images are primarily acquired in vivo allowing to scan the same nest or colony several times during its developmental cycle (Eyer, Neumann, & Dietemann, 2016 Establishment of trophic relationships in extant (Herrel et al, 2010;Kato et al, 2014;Pampush et al, 2016;Renaud et al, 2015;Self, 2015;Soons et al, 2015) and extinct species (Collareta et al, 2015;Gill et al, 2014) has also been possible by analysis of gut content, beak shape, or dental wear patterns.…”