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. 2018 Oct 25;6(8):2350-2354.
doi: 10.1002/fsn3.821. eCollection 2018 Nov.

The monoclonal antibody for discrimination of natural honey against artificial honey

Taeri Joe  1 , Eunbee Jeong  1 , Gaeun Yoo  1 , Sejin Ahn  1 , Hae-Ik Rhee  1 , Deug-Chan Lee  1   2
Affiliations

The monoclonal antibody for discrimination of natural honey against artificial honey

Taeri Joe et al. Food Sci Nutr. .

Abstract

Background: Honey is a natural product used as food, medicine, or cosmetics for very long time and is made by bees. Honey contains various components such as sugar, protein, minerals, and vitamins. Honey is made by Apis cerana or Apis mellifera, which commonly has major royal jelly proteins (MRJPs) as a major protein. To discriminate between natural honey (NH) and artificial honey (AH), many researchers tried method of physicochemical analysis. However, the analysis results were ambiguous and not stable.

Results: We have produced a monoclonal antibody that recognizes MRJPs of honeys in common. Monoclonal antibody has advantage such as accuracy, sensitivity, and stability as the standard. The specificity and affinity of produced antibody were measured by western blotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. As a result, this monoclonal antibody specifically recognized MRJPs of NH and did not recognize AH which has not including MRJPs.

Conclusion: Natural honey could be able to distinguish from AH accurately by using this monoclonal antibody. Also, this method could be commercially applicable.

Keywords: ELISA; artificial honey; monoclonal antibody; natural honey.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Specificity of monoclonal antibody using ELISA. (a) TY monoclonal antibody we produced had the similar level of absorbance at 405 nm in natural honeys (NHs) made by Apis cerana or A. mellifera. (b) In mixed sample with NH and artificial honey (AH) depending on the ratio, TY antibody specifically recognized as much as included NH rate. Results are presented as the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. ELISA: enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay
Figure 2
Figure 2
Sensitivity of monoclonal antibody to mixed honey samples in western blotting. Though natural honeys (NHs) were mixed with artificial honey (AH) in varying ratios, TY monoclonal antibody displayed specific recognition to NHs compared to AH. Western blotting signals became gradually stronger as proportion of NH. Also, there was no significant different in band size or darkness between NH made by different species
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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