Proteins and phenols are minor, but important components of honey. Phenols originate from nectar and proteins from nectar/pollen and bees themselves. These two types of compounds are important for growth and development of bee colonies, and also for their defense capacity. Their quantity in honey depends on food accessibility and forage during the year. In this preliminary study, we aimed to see yearly dynamics of ratio of phenols and proteins in honey for a bee colony, and to observe the possible effects of extended oxalic acid antivarroa treatment on honey composition regarding proteins and phenols. Since proteins and phenols are fluorescently active, for measurement of phenol/protein ratio in honey we applied steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy as a rapid and non-destructive method. We determined the ratio of the spectral components related to these two main fluorophores in honey, proteins and phenolic compounds, as a ratiometric indicator of variability in honey samples collected in different seasons. We found that oxalic acid does not influence proteins’ and phenolics’ composition of honey, based on the spectral analysis. Since proteins in honey originate mainly from bees colony, this result indicates that oxalic acid did not change bee synthesis of proteins, indicating that oxalic acid, as a protective agent, is not harmful to the bees.

中文翻译：

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利用荧光光谱法研究蜜蜂社会蜂蜜中蛋白质和酚的年度变化：评估抗varroa处理对蜂蜜成分影响的方法

蛋白质和酚类物质虽然很少，但是蜂蜜的重要成分。酚类来自花蜜，蛋白质来自花蜜/花粉以及蜜蜂本身。这两类化合物对于蜂群的生长和发育以及它们的防御能力都很重要。它们在蜂蜜中的含量取决于一年中的食物可及性和草料。在这项初步研究中，我们旨在观察蜂群中蜂蜜中酚和蛋白质比率的年度动态，并观察扩展草酸抗varroa处理对蜂蜜中蛋白质和酚组成的影响。由于蛋白质和酚具有荧光活性，因此为了测量蜂蜜中的酚/蛋白质比率，我们将稳态荧光光谱法用作一种快速且无损的方法。我们确定了与蜂蜜，蛋白质和酚类化合物中这两个主要荧光团相关的光谱成分的比率，作为不同季节收集的蜂蜜样品中变异性的比率指标。根据光谱分析，我们发现草酸不会影响蜂蜜的蛋白质和酚类成分。由于蜂蜜中的蛋白质主要来源于蜂群，因此该结果表明草酸不会改变蜜蜂的蛋白质合成，表明草酸作为保护剂对蜜蜂无害。