Venom Composition of Egyptian and Carniolan Honeybee, Apis mellifera L. Affected by Collection Methods.

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Plant Protection Research Institute, Agriculture Research Centre

2 Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University

3 Molecular Biology Department, National Research Centre, El-Tahrir st., Dokki, Giza, Egypt

4 Director of ANDI center of excellence in antivenom research, Vacsera, Egypt

Abstract

Bee venom is one of the
economic income sources for beekeepers due to their widely medical uses and
other traded products. This study investigates the biological activity of
venom extracts from the honeybee, Apis mellifera
subspecies: A. m. lamarckii and A. m. carnica by manual and electro-
stimulated extracted methods. Venoms extracted compared with regard to their SDS-PAGE analysis, enzymatic
activities: protease, PLA2, hyaluronidase and haemolytic
activity of melittin, and LD50 value. The
electrophoretic analysis data showed that manual venoms extract for Egyptian
and Carniolan bees contain 24 and 21 bands with molecular weights ranging from
127.66 - 15.92 KDa and 133.61- 14.4 KDa, respectively. It was noted that the
venoms electrically extracted for Egyptian and Carniolan bees have the highest
similarities with 0.363. The enzymatic activities and
LD50 value data
showed that the venoms extracted using electrical stimulated
method has high optimal quality and it can be commercialized by the beekeeper. The venom of Egyptian subspecies A. m. lamarckii   has high biological activity
and is the better form for the best pharmacological
source. The experimental data can be used for identification, standardization
and determining the biological activity of honeybee venom in Egypt.

Keywords