서양종 꿀벌(Apis mellifera L.)의 봉독은 예로부터 항염증과 탁월한 진통 효과로 인해 많은 질병 치료에 이용되어 왔다. 이러한 기능성은 멜리틴과 같은 봉독의 다양한 활성물질로부터 기인하며 약리기전에 대한 연구도 활발하다. 그러나 아직까지 봉독 내에 존재하는 생체아민에 대한 연구는 미흡하다. 본 연구에서는 초고성능액체크로마토그래피를 이용하여 봉독 내에 존재하는 생체아민인 putrescine의 존재 여부를 확인하였으며 이에 대한 밸리데이션을 수행하였다. 밸리데이션은 특이성, 정확성 및 정밀도를 평가하고 분석법을 검증하였다. Putrescine 분석의 선형성은 R≥0.99로 높은 선형성을 나타냈으며, 검출한계는 0.9 μg/ml, 정량한계는 2.7 μg/ml였으며, 회수율은 96.4%-99.9%로 나타났다. Intra-day 정밀도와 inter-day 정밀도의 상대표준편차(RSD) 값은 각각 0.16%-0.23%와 0.09%-0.36%였으며, 이는 RSD 값이 5%이하의 우수한 정밀도 를 보였다. 따라서 본 분석법은 putrescine 분석에 있어서 선형성, 검출한계, 정량한계 및 회수율을 모두 만족하는 것으로 확인되었다. 또한 봉독 내에 존재하는 putrescine의 함량을 조사해본 결과 3.1 ± 0.09 mg/g 존재하였으며 본 연구를 통해 봉독 내 putrescine 함량에 대한 기본적인 데이터를 제공하며, 이는 다양한 생물 활성에 대한 추가 연구에 유용할 것으로 사료된다.

감귤그린병(Citrus Huanglongbing Disease)은 전 세계적으로 감귤산업에 가장 큰 피해를 주는 병해로 국내 미분포종인 귤나무이(Diaphorina citri Kuwayama)가 매개충으로 알려져 있다. 바이러스에 감염된 나무는 5~12년내에 대부분 고사하며 열매는 크지 못하고 색이 들지 않는 증상을 보여 상품성을 저해시킨다. 현재 접목, 묘목, 매개충등의 유입으로 전 세계적으로 확산되고 있는 실정이다. 귤나무이의 국내 분포가능성이 꾸준히 제시되면서 유입 대비를 위한 예찰방법 및 동정법 개발이 필요한 실정이다. 제주도에는 총 33종이 분포하는 것으로 알려져 있으며(권, 1983; Cho & burckhardt, 2017) 2016년부터 지금까지의 조사로 11종의 나무이와 10종의 기주식물을 확인되었다. 귤나무가 속해있는 운향과를 기주로 하는 나무이는 발견되지 않았다.

서양종 꿀벌의 일벌의 독을 채취하여 정제한 정제봉독에 대한 세균에서의 돌연변이 유발성 검색을 위하여 S. typhimurium의 히스티딘 요구성 균주 TA100, TA1535, TA98, 그리고 TA1537의 균주와 대장균 E. coli의 트립토 판 요구성 균주인 WP2 uvrA를 이용해 복귀돌연변이시험 을 실시하였다. 정제봉독은 부형제로 사용한 멸균생리식 염수에 용해되었으며 모든 농도군의 조제물에서 침전은 관찰되지 않았으며, 정제봉독 조제물을 top agar와 혼합할 때 모든 농도군에서 혼탁이나 침전이 관찰되지 않았다. 대사활성계 적용 TA100, TA1535, TA98 균주에 대해 0, 1.5, 5, 15, 50, 150 및 500 μg/plate의 범위를 설정하고 미 적용시엔 0, 0.15, 0.5, 1.5, 5, 15 및 50 μg/plate의 범위로 설 정하였다. TA1537과 WP2 uvrA균주에 대한 농도 범위은 대사활성계 적용시엔 0, 5, 15, 50, 150, 500 및 1,500를 미 적용시엔 0, 1.5, 5, 15, 50, 150 및 500 μg/plate 범위로 설정하여 시험을 수행하였다. 그 결과 모든 시험균주에서 대사활성계 적용 여부에 상관없이 정제봉독 처리군 의 평균 집락 수는 증가를 나타내지 않았으며, 양성판정 기준을 만족시키지 못하였다. 따라서, 정제봉독은 본 시험 조건 하에 사용한 시험 균주에 복귀돌연변이를 유발하지 않는 것으로 사료되었다.

In this study, we investigated and compared some chemical properties of Korean natural honeys and sugar-fed honeys for their quality characteristics. The natural honey samples were monofloral from chestnut and acacia flowers, and the sugar-fed honey samples were collected from honeybees feeding on sugar cane and sugar beet. The chemical properties of the honey samples, such as moisture, total protein, total lipids, ash, carbohydrate, minerals, vitamins, and free amino acids were determined. The moisture content was 18.5±0.9% in natural acacia honey, 17.2±0.9% in natural chestnut honey, 19.6±0.9% in sugar cane-fed honey, and 24.8±% in sugar beet-fed honey. The total protein and ash contents were the highest in natural chestnut honey. Maltose and sucrose were not detected in natural honeys but were detected at 2~7% in sugar-fed honeys. The vitamin, mineral, and free amino acids contents of natural honeys were higher than sugar-fed honeys. The natural chestnut honey is the highest in honeys. These results confirmed that the quality of natural honey was better than that of sugar-fed honey. Also, the vitamin, mineral, and free amino acids contents are potential characteristics for distinguishing between natural and sugar-fed honeys.

Honey production from approximately 1.7 million colonies owned by around 21 thousand Korean beekeepers was almost 36 thousand M/T in 2014. Honey farmers have mainly obtained commodities such as honey, beeswax, pollen and royal jelly. Honeybees gather the nectars and pollens from flowers of plants or trees. Bee pollen is rich in various nutrients and called as natural complete food. Bee pollens of Quercus acutissima, Actinidia arguta, Amorpha fruticosa, Oryza sativa, Chrysanthemum morifolium and Salix koreensis were mainly collected by Apis mellifera in Korea. But stiff pollen wall hinders dissolution of polysaccharides and lowers extraction efficiency. Thus, we measured antioxidant activity as DPPH radical scavenging assay system on six kinds of pollens inoculated with fungi to confirm the husk removal effect. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by measuring the free radical scavenging activity using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). Briefly, extracts prepared from different extraction conditions were mixed with freshly prepared DPPH solution. After shaking, the reaction mixtures were stand for 30 min at room temperature in dark places. The radical scavenging activity was determined by measuring the absorbance at 517 nm. The relative radical scavenging activity (%) was calculated as [1-absorbance of solution with sample and DPPH / absorbance of solution with DPPH] x 100. The scavenger activities of Quercus acutissima, Actinidia arguta, Amorpha fruticosa, Oryza sativa, Chrysanthemum morifolium and Salix koreensis were 42.73±1.25, 8.98±1.46, 4.38±3.53, 36.09±0.74, 17.28±1.95 and 62.76±2.07 at 500㎕/㎖, respectively.

Propolis possesses antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anaesthetic and immunostimulating activities. The aim of this study was to evaluated chemical composition and in vitro anti-Helicobacter pylori activity of eight propolis ethanolic extracts form different region in Korea. The chemical composition of eight Korean propolis was investicated by absorption spectrophotomety and UHPLC. Total penolic and total flavonoids content ranged between 21±1.5 and 31±1.8 gallic acid g/100 g and 7.2±0.9 and 24.4±1.9 quercetin g/100 g, respectively. The p-coumaric acid as standard components content ranged between 0.29±0.00 and 2.34±0.02 mg/g using UHPLC. Cinnamic acid content between 0.43±0.00 and 1.33±0.01 mg/g. 80% ethanolic extract of propolis against H. pylori was evaluated by using the disc diffusion method. Ethanol was used as a control. Mean diameters of H. pylori growth inhibition using 10 μg/mL, 50 μg/mL or 100 μg/mL ethanol propolis per disc were 0, ranging from 0.9 to 2.1 mm and from 1.9 to 3.5 mm, respectively. In conclusion, variation in the chemical composition of Korean propolis were mainly due to the difference in the preferred regional plants visited by honeybees. Also Korean propolis possesses considerable antibacterial activity against H. pylori. There was not confirmed a correlation between the chemical composion contens and anti-H. pylori effect. The potential of propolis in the prevention or treatment of H. pylori infection is worth further extensive evaluation.

Bee pollen is rich in various nutrients and called as natural complete food. Bee pollens of acorn (Quercus acutissima) and actinidia (Actinidia arguta) are the most collected in Korea. But stiff pollen wall hinders dissolution of polysaccharides and lowers extraction efficiency. Thus, we measured antioxidant activity as DPPH radical scavenging and the total polyphenol content of pulverized and lyophilized actinidia pollens inoculated with fungi to confirm the husk removal effect. The total polyphenol content of actinidia pollen was highest in lyophilized pollen medium inoculated with Armillaria mellea, and was lowest in pollen inoculated with Lentinula edodes. Total polyphenol content of the lyophilized pollen was higher than that of the refined pollen and the pulverized pollen in actinidia pollen germinated with A. mellea. The total polyphenol content of the lyophilized actinidia pollen germinated with A. mellea was 1.4-fold higher than that extracted with water. Measurement of antioxidant activity using the DPPH (2, 2 diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging method showed that the lyophilized actinidia pollen germinated with A. mellea had the highest and that germinated with L. edodes was lowest in antioxidant activities. The lyophilized actinidia pollen germinated with A. mellea was 2 to 4 times higher than that extracted with water in the antioxidant activity of DPPH free radical scavenging. Many germinated cells were formed around pore of actinidia pollen inoculated with L. edodes, while those were formed at the end of hyphae derived from actinidia pollen inoculated with A. mellea.

Many bumblebee species have declined in number in recent decades, particularly in developing regions. Widespread declines of bumblebee species threaten the pollination levels of both wildflowers and crops. Here, we investigated the body weight and colony-developmental characteristics of Korean native bumblebee (B. ignitus) queens collected from 2000 to 2010 for conservation of native bumblebees for breeding. The average weight of 6,852 queens was 0.77 ± 0.44 g. The weight of B. ignitus queens collected in 2005 was the greatest, 0.87 ± 0.12 g, which was 1.0–1.3-fold heavier than any other year. The average oviposition rate was 81.6 ± 10.7%, and 2004 showed the highest rate, 95.0%. This value corresponded to 1.1-1.6-fold increases over the queens collected in the other years. The average rate of colony foundation was 60.9 ± 11.0%. Queens in 2008 exhibited the best performance, 75.4%, which was 1.0-1.9-fold higher than the other years. The rate of progeny-queen production averaged 27.0 ± 9.4% (Fig. 5) and peaked in 2001 at 43.2%; this value was 1.1–4.7-fold higher than other years. The average number of queens produced and number of generations begotten by queens was 27.6 ± 10.1% and 4.8 ± 2.0, respectively. Queens in 2000 averaged 9 generations of offspring, which was 1.1-3.1-fold greater than other years. These results indicate that the colony-developmental characteristics of the collected queens changed significantly between 2000 and 2010. In addition, there was no correlation between body weight and number of queens collected, although body weight was affected by collection year. Since 2008, the colony- developmental characteristics of queens have worsened.

Bumblebees are important pollinators in greenhouse and have colonized all parts of the World. In Korea, the value of bumblebees is increasing as pollinator. However, the more recent use of reared colonies may ultimately allow pathogens to spread to peripheral areas for bumblebees. Generally, bumblebees are hosts to a large number of parasites which are mites, flies, protozoa, fungi, virus and bacteria. For most of these, very little is known about their effects against host insect, epidemiology or evolutionary ecology. So, we report pathogenic bacteria isolated from Bombus terrestris and B. ignitus at first time in Korea. Bacillus fusiformis and Klebsiella oxytoca are isolated from B. terrestris and confirmed with 16S rRNA gene nucleotide comparison in NCBI genebank. Pathogenicity of B. fusiformis was 35~40% against B. terrestris. Pantoea dispersa and K. oxytoca are isolated from B. ignitus and confirmed with 16S rRNA gene nucleotide comparison in NCBI genebank. Pathogenicity of these species were 35~40% against B. ignitus. These pathogenicity are considered as low-level.