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Updated: May 23, 2026

Collection and Identification of Pollen from Honey Bee Colonies
Published on: January 19, 2021
Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometric investigation of pollen and their classification by
Benjamin Krause1, Stephan Seifert, Ulrich Panne
1BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Analytical Chemistry, Richard-Willstätter-Str. 11, D-12489, Berlin, Germany.
Rationale:
A fast and reliable online identification of pollen is not yet available. The identification of pollen is based mainly on the evaluation of morphological data obtained by microscopic methods.
Methods:
Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) was applied to the analysis of extracts and milled pollen samples. The obtained MALDI data were explored for characteristic peak patterns which could be subjected to a multivariate statistical analysis.
Results:
Two sample preparation methods are presented, which require only minimal or no chemical extraction of the pollen. MALDI pollen spectra could be recorded showing various peak patterns. A multivariate statistics approach allowed the classification of pollen into clusters indicating similarities and differences between various species.
Conclusions:
These results demonstrate the potential and the reliability of MALDI-TOF MS for the identification and, in combination with multivariate statistics, also for the classification of pollen.
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