title: Amino acid composition of royal jelly harvested at different times after larval transfer.
abstract: The amino acids in royal jelly (RJ) have a wide range of pharmacological and health-promoting functions in humans. Multiple studies on the amino acid quality and composition in RJ have investigated RJ harvested at 72 h after larval transfer. In contrast, the concentration of amino acids in RJ harvested before 72 h remains unknown. In this study, the concentration of free amino acids (FAAs) and total amino acids (TAAs) in RJ harvested at 13 time points between 24 and 72 h after transfer of ten Apis mellifera colonies were measured. Our results indicated that the most abundant FAAs were Pro, Phe, Lys, Glu, and Tyr, whereas the most abundant TAAs were Asp, Glu, Leu, Lys, and Val. The total FAA concentration in RJ increased with increasing harvest time, from 4.30 mg/g at 24 h to 9.48 mg/g at 72 h. In contrast, the variation in concentration of TAAs observed was a decrease-increase-decrease trend with 40 h (149.53 mg/g) and 52 h (169.62 mg/g) as inflection points. The highest and lowest concentrations of TAA were 197.96 and 121.32 mg/g at 24 and 72 h, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the concentration changes of FAAs and TAAs prior to 72 h after transfer. Our results will provide theoretical support to guide production practices of beekeeping, as well as elucidate the relationship between the harvest time point and RJ content.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Medicinal Animal, Chongqing Institute of Medicinal Plant Cultivation, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jie
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Medicinal Animal, Chongqing Institute of Medicinal Plant Cultivation, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Medicinal Animal, Chongqing Institute of Medicinal Plant Cultivation, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Medicinal Animal, Chongqing Institute of Medicinal Plant Cultivation, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: X L
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Medicinal Animal, Chongqing Institute of Medicinal Plant Cultivation, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Medicinal Animal, Chongqing Institute of Medicinal Plant Cultivation, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Medicinal Animal, Chongqing Institute of Medicinal Plant Cultivation, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: M Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Medicinal Animal, Chongqing Institute of Medicinal Plant Cultivation, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Medicinal Animal, Chongqing Institute of Medicinal Plant Cultivation, Chongqing, China apidae@126.com.
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D007814:Larva / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors; D000099219:Royal Jelly
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D005227:Fatty Acids; D000099219:Royal Jelly