Honeybee proteins in Saudi honeys: A shotgun gel-free proteomic study

This study investigated the protein content of Acacia and Ziziphus honey samples from the southwestern region of Saudi Arabia following the shotgun gel-free proteomics. Honey proteins were extracted, digested by trypsin and the trypsin digests were separated and characterized using the LC-ESI-QTOF-MS (SCIEX X500R QTOF). The precursor masses of the trypsin digests were used to identify the proteins through searching the mascot spectral database search engine. Nine protein classes originated from honeybees were identified as follows: 1) Gene expression regulatory proteins, 2) Enzymes, 3) Bee venom proteins, 4) Major Royal Jelly Proteins (MRJP), 5) Immune proteins, 6) Structural proteins, 7) Neuropeptides, 8) Vision protein and 9) Olfactory proteins. This study reported, for the first time, the presence of sixteen honeybee proteins in Acacia and Ziziphus honey samples from the southwestern region of Saudi Arabia. Moreover, this study reported that the honey proteomics can predict the honeybee origin of honey samples.