Honey produced by some species of Australian stingless bees possesses spectacular bacteria- and fungi-killing properties, in keeping with new analysis. With issues of antimicrobial resistance, the golden syrup has the potential for use alongside or instead of current antibiotics.
Nature is aware of what it’s doing, particularly on the subject of producing medicinal compounds. Over millennia, native peoples have tried and examined these pure merchandise the best way nature meant. Generally, it takes Western medication a while to catch up.
In a brand new research led by the College of Sydney, researchers investigated the antimicrobial properties of honey produced by explicit native stingless bee species. This honey has been used medicinally by Indigenous Australians for hundreds of years, and could also be useful within the struggle towards antimicrobial resistance.
“Given the rising medical problem of antimicrobial resistance, our findings recommend stingless bee honey may complement, or present a helpful different to, artificial antibiotics,” mentioned Dr Kenya Fernandes, from the college’s School of Life and Environmental Sciences and the research’s lead and corresponding creator.
There are just a few native Australian stingless bee species that produce a definite honey, recognized regionally as “sugarbag.” Whereas Indigenous Australians have used it for hundreds of years as each a nutritious meals supply and a medication to deal with itchy pores and skin and sores, there may be restricted analysis into the honey’s antimicrobial properties. The phrase “microbe” covers a various vary of organisms, together with micro organism, viruses, and fungi. Honey’s antimicrobial exercise is attributed to both peroxide exercise or non-peroxide exercise.
Peroxide exercise comes from hydrogen peroxide, a chemical recognized for its capacity to kill microbes. An enzyme referred to as glucose oxidase, which bees add to nectar, turns glucose into gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide when the honey is diluted (for instance, by wound moisture or saliva). Hydrogen peroxide works by damaging microbial proteins, DNA, and membranes and is efficient towards all kinds of micro organism and fungi. Non-peroxide exercise refers to antimicrobial results not attributable to hydrogen peroxide however due, as an alternative, to different bioactive compounds resembling phenolics and flavonoids. These compounds can disrupt cell membranes and intervene with cell metabolism, and are sometimes extra steady than peroxide exercise.
Tim Heard
Whereas Manuka honey is a well known instance of non-peroxide exercise, honey from some species of Australian stingless bees is understood to have each peroxide and non-peroxide exercise. Within the current research, the researchers evaluated the antimicrobial exercise of sugarbag honey produced by three species of stingless bees, Tetragonula carbonaria, Tetragonula hockingsi, and Austroplebeia australis. The honeys had been examined towards 4 disease-causing microbes: the micro organism Staphylococcus aureus (“golden staph”) and E. coli, and the fungi Cryptococcus neoformans and Trichophyton interdigitale.
“Manuka honey from honeybees shows sturdy non-peroxide antimicrobial exercise, which is one motive why its manufacturing has been a business success,” Fernandes mentioned. “Nevertheless, that’s largely reliant on the supply of its nectar from particular myrtle vegetation (Leptospermum). In distinction, the persistent antimicrobial exercise of heat-treated, non-peroxide honey from stingless Australian bees throughout numerous areas and nectar sources suggests there’s something particular about these bees, fairly than simply nectar, that performs a important position right here.”
All the honeys confirmed antimicrobial exercise. The fungus T. interdigitale was the best to kill, and C. neoformans was the toughest. Honey produced by T. carbonaria bees was the strongest total, particularly towards fungi. A. australis honey was the weakest. When the honeys had been heated to destroy hydrogen peroxide, many retained sturdy non-peroxide antimicrobial exercise. That is vital because it means they’re extra steady and helpful in medical settings. The researchers discovered that, not like common honey, the stingless bee honeys they evaluated can slowly launch hydrogen peroxide over a number of days, not only for just a few hours. Astonishingly, some T. carbonaria honeys produced it for greater than six days.
“We found the antimicrobial exercise is constant throughout all sugarbag samples examined, not like honeybee honey, which may range considerably based mostly on seasonal adjustments and floral sources,” mentioned research co-author Professor Dee Carter, additionally from the College of Sydney’s Life and Environmental Sciences Faculty.
When the researchers appeared on the make-up of the honeys, they discovered that they contained phenolics and flavonoids, plant compounds that’ve been proven to struggle microbes and irritation. Additionally they discovered many alternative proteins within the honeys, together with some doubtlessly linked to immune protection. Certainly, every bee species’ honey had a unique protein “fingerprint.” And, honey samples saved for 18 years nonetheless had antimicrobial energy, even after the peroxide degraded, demonstrating the product’s long-term stability.
“Whereas we now have but to check the honeys towards drug-resistant micro organism particularly, the presence of a number of antimicrobial elements considerably reduces the chance of resistance growing,” mentioned Fernandes.
The following step is to make sure that the sugarbag honey could be produced on the required scale, given that every stingless beehive solely produces about half a liter (17 fl oz) a yr.
“Whereas the yield is small, these hives require much less upkeep than conventional beehives, permitting beekeepers to handle bigger numbers,” mentioned co-author Dr Ros Gloag. “With correct incentives, resembling business worth for the honey, it’s possible to domesticate extra hives, offering a pathway for business scalability.”
The research was revealed within the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Supply: University of Sydney
