Determination of Free Amino Acids in Stingless Bee ( Meliponinae ) Honey
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Determination of Free Amino Acids in Stingless Bee (Meliponinae) Honey Fabíola Carina Biluca 1 & José Bernal 2 & Silvia Valverde 2 & Ana María Ares 2 & Luciano Valdemiro Gonzaga 1 & Ana Carolina Oliveira Costa 1 & Roseane Fett 1 Received: 13 December 2018 / Accepted: 26 December 2018 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract The present study aimed to investigate, for the first time, the presence of free amino acids in stingless bee (Meliponinae) honey samples from nine species, using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to fluorescence (HPLC/FLD) and HPLC coupled to mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS-single quadrupole) detectors. Seventeen free amino acids were investigated, and 16 were determined. Phenylalanine (5.20–1231 mg kg−1) and proline (12.1–762 mg kg−1) were the majority free amino acids, which were found in all the samples; on the other hand, histidine was not identified in either of the samples. The results summarized in this study confirm not only the presence, but also the diversity of free amino acids in the analyzed stingless bee honey samples. Keywords Free amino acids . Honey . Stingless bees . Food analysis . Food composition
Introduction The Meliponinae, popularly known as stingless bees, is the most diverse group of bees found in tropical and subtropical countries, being the most abundant subtype of bees on Earth (Musa et al. 2018; Thakodee et al. 2018). They are known for offering ecological benefits thanks to the efficiency of their pollination and the production of honey, pollen, propolis, and geopropolis, which have specific characteristics recognized in traditional folk medicine (Ranneh et al. 2018; Yaacob et al. 2018). The stingless bees are divided into three tribes: Meliponini, Trigonini, and Lestrimelittini. They differ from bees of the Apis mellifera species because they have different habits and morphologies. In relation to the habits, stingless bees collect Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-018-01427-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Fabíola Carina Biluca [email protected] * Roseane Fett [email protected] 1
Department of Food Science and Technology, Laboratory of Food Chemistry, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Admar Gonzaga 1346, Itacorubi, Florianópolis, SC 88034-001, Brazil
2
I.U. CINQUIMA, Analytical Chemistry Group, University of Valladolid, Paseo Belen 8, 47011 Valladolid, Spain
the nectar from creeping plants, their flights are short when searching for food, they build their hives in the horizontal direction, and they construct pots for food reserves (Vit et al. 2013; Nordin et al. 2018). Meanwhile, considering only their morphology, the main difference is related to absence of stings. Moreover, stingless bees are not aggressive towards humans, and they can be located close to houses/residences, handled by people of diverse ages, without the need of using special clothes and equipment, resulting in low costs
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