Royal jelly is the secretion of honeybees used in larval nutrients, as well as adult queens. It is secreted from the gland in the hypopharyngees of the nurse's bees, and fed to all larvae in the colony, regardless of sex or caste.
When the worker bees decide to make new queens, usually because the old are weak or dead, they pick out some small larvae and feed them with royal jelly in a specially constructed queen cell. This type of feed triggers the development of queen morphology, including a fully developed ovary that is needed to spawn.
Royal jelly is widely marketed as a dietary supplement. This is an alternative medicine that belongs to the apitherapy category. Both the European Food Safety Authority and the US Food and Drug Administration have concluded that current evidence does not support health benefit claims, and actively inhibits the sale and consumption of jelly. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has taken legal action against companies that have used unwarranted claims about the health benefits of marketing royal jelly products. There have also been documented cases of allergic reactions, namely itching, asthma, and anaphylaxis, due to the consumption of royal jelly.
Video Royal jelly
Production
Royal jelly is secreted from the glands in the head of worker bees and fed to all bee larvae, whether they are destined to become drones (men), workers (sterile females), or queens (fertile females). After three days, the drone larvae were unmanned and the workers were no longer fed royal jelly, but the larval queen continued to be fed this particular substance during their development.
Maps Royal jelly
Composition
Royal jelly is 67% water, 12.5% ​​protein, 11% simple sugar (monosaccharide), 5% fatty acid and 2-3% 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10-HDA). It also contains minerals, antibacterial and antibiotic components, pantothenic acid (vitamin B 5 ), pyridoxine (vitamin B 6 ) and trace amounts of vitamin C, but no soluble vitamins in fat: A, D, E or K.
Protein
The royal jelly protein (MRJPs) is the principal family of proteins secreted by honeybees. The family consists of nine proteins, of which MRJP1 (also called royalactin), MRJP2, MRJP3, MRJP4, and MRJP5 are present in royal jelly secreted by worker bees. MRJP1 is the most abundant, and largest-sized. The five proteins are 82-90% of the total protein in royal jelly. Royal jelly has been used in traditional medicine since ancient times, and MRJPs proved to be a major component of the drug. They are synthesized by the family of nine genes, which in turn are members of the yellow gene family as in the fruit fly ( Drosophila ) and the bacteria. They are associated to engage in the development of differential larvae of queens and worker larvae, thus forming a division of labor in the bee colony.
Epigenetic effects
The honey bee queen and worker is one of the most striking examples of environmentally controlled phenotypic polymorphisms. Regardless of their identical clonal properties at the DNA level, they differ greatly in a variety of characteristics including anatomical and physiological differences, queen longevity, and reproductive capacity. Queens is a female sexual caste and has a large active ovary, whereas female workers have only imperfect and inactive ovaries and are functionally sterile. Development gap of queen/worker is controlled epigenetically by eating differential with royal jelly; This seems to be caused primarily by the protein royalactin. The female larvae destined to be queens are fed royal jelly in large quantities; this triggers a cascade of molecular events that result in the development of queens. It has been shown that this phenomenon is mediated by an epigenetic modification of DNA known as CpG methylation. Silencing the expression of enzymes that methylate DNA in newly hatched larvae causes jelly-like effects on larval development pathways; Most individuals with reduced levels of DNA methylation appear as queens with a fully developed ovary. These findings suggest that DNA methylation in honeybees allows the expression of epigenetic information altered differently by nutritional input.
Used by humans
Royal jelly is collected and sold as a food supplement to humans, but the European Food Safety Authority has concluded that current evidence does not support the claim that consuming royal jelly will provide health benefits to humans. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has taken legal action against companies that have used unwarranted claims about the health benefits of marketing royal jelly products.
Cultivation
Royal jelly is harvested by stimulating colonies with bee hives that can be moved to produce queen bees. Royal jelly is collected from each queen cell (honeycomb) when the queen larva is about four days old. It is the only cell in which large quantities are stored; when royal jelly is fed to the worker larvae, it is fed directly to them, and they consume it as it is produced, whereas the queen larvae cells are "stocked" with royal jelly much faster than the larvae can consume. Therefore, only in queen cells is a practical harvest of royal jelly. A well-managed nest during the 5-6 month season can produce about 500 g of royal jelly. Because the product is easily damaged, manufacturers should have direct access to the appropriate cold storage (eg household refrigerators or freezers) where royal jelly is stored until it is sold or shipped to a collection center. Sometimes honey or beeswax is added to royal jelly, which is considered to help preservation.
Adverse effects
Royal jelly can cause allergic reactions in humans ranging from itching, asthma, even fatal anaphylaxis. The incidence of allergic side effects in people taking royal jelly is unknown. The risk of having an allergy to royal jelly is higher in people who have other allergies.
See also
- Queen bee acid
- Bee propolis
- 3-Hydroxydecanoic acid
- 3.10-Dihydroxydecanoic acid
- 3,11-Dihydroxydodecanoic acid
Note
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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