Standard methods for pollen research

Abstract

Bee pollen" is pollen collected from flowers by honey bees. It is used by the bees to nourish themselves, mainly by providing royal jelly and brood food, but it is also used for human nutrition. For the latter purpose, it is collected at the hive entrance as pellets that the bees bring to the hive. Bee pollen has diverse bioactivities, and thus has been used as a health food, and even as medication in some countries. In this paper, we provide standard methods for carrying out research on bee pollen. First, we introduce a method for the production and storage of bee pollen which assures quality of the product. Routine methods are then provided for the identification of the pollen's floral sources, and determination of the more important quality criteria such as water content and content of proteins, carbohydrates, fatty acids, vitamins, alkaloids, phenolic and polyphenolic compounds. Finally, methods are described for the determination of some important bioactivities of bee pollen such as its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antimutagenic properties. M etodos est andar Para la investigaci on del polenEl "polen de abeja" es el polen recogido de las flores por las abejas mel ıferas. El polen de abeja es utilizado para nutrir a las propias abejas, principalmente para proporcionar jalea real y alimento para las cr ıas, pero tambi en se utiliza para la nutrici on humana. Para este ultimo fin, se recoge en la entrada de la colmena en forma de gr anulos que las abejas llevan a la colmena. El polen de abeja tiene diversas bioactividades, por lo que se hautilizado como alimento para la salud, e incluso como medicamento en algunos pa ıses. En este art ıculo, proporcionamos m etodos est andar para llevar a cabo investigaciones sobre el polen de abeja. En primer lugar, presentamos un m etodo de producci on y almacenamiento de polen de abeja que garantiza la calidad del producto. A continuaci on, se ofrecen m etodos de rutina para la identificaci on de las fuentes florales del polen y la determinaci on de los criterios de calidad m as importantes, como el contenido de

Determination of Free Amino Acids in Bee Pollen by Liquid Chromatography with Fluorescence Detection

“…This is a mixture of flower pollen residues together with nectar or honey, enzymes, wax, and salivary substances from bees, creating small grains (Ares et al 2018;Themelis et al 2019). Bee pollen is considered one of the few foods that are perfectly complete, with at least 250 substances present in its composition; among these are sugars, lipids (triglycerides, phospholipids), carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, vitamins A, C, E and D, minerals such as zinc, copper and iron, carotenoids, flavonoids and both macro-and micronutrients (Campos et al 2021;Chantarudee et al 2012;Kafantaris et al 2021). Some of these compounds are bioactive, and in the last years many studies have described the potential benefits of bee pollen for health (Ares et al 2018).…”

Assessing pollen nutrient content: a unifying approach for the study of bee nutritional ecology

“…This mutualism led to the evolution of different structures that together promote successful pollination: a three-layered outer wall and a nutritionally rich inner domain containing the male gametophyte. While a great deal of structural variation exists between pollen grains, including the number and types of apertures (openings), the general plan of organization of a pollen grain is conserved across taxa (reviewed by Campos et al [30]). As a result, the toughness and porous nature of pollen walls can vary greatly between pollen taxa [33].…”

“…While a great deal of structural variation exists between pollen grains, including the number and types of apertures (openings), the general plan of organization of a pollen grain is conserved across taxa (reviewed by Campos et al . [30]). As a result, the toughness and porous nature of pollen walls can vary greatly between pollen taxa [33].…”

“…Some, but not all, researchers disrupt the pollenkitt prior to analysis. Most recently, Campos et al [30] noted the need to disrupt the pollen wall to determine the phenolic compounds in pollen. In theory, this step increases extraction success because an intact pollenkitt may prevent solvents from entering the centre of the pollen grain [29].…”

Decreased efficiency of pollen collection due to Sulfoxaflor exposure leads to a reduction in the size of bumble bee workers in late European summer

“…Bioinformatics followed mostly the protocol as described in Campos et al (2021): subsequent filtering and data processing steps were carried out with VSEARCH (Rognes et al, 2016). First, forward and reverse reads were joined.…”