New criterion for evaluation of honey: quantification of royal jelly protein apalbumin 1 in honey by ELISA.

The 55 kDa major protein of royal jelly, named apalbumin 1, is an authentic protein of honey and pollen pellet, and for its quantification an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed using specific polyclonal anti-apalbumin 1 antibody. The limit of detection for apalbumin 1 was 2 ng mL(-1). The floral honeys contained apalbumin 1 as follows: acacia, 0.011%; linden, 0.010%; chestnut, 0.029%; rape, 0.010%; and dandelion, 0.014%. The saccharose syrup honey contained only 0.001% of apalbumin 1. The average amount of apalbumin 1 relating to the total protein content of analyzed honey samples was 23.39%, whereas in SCCH apalbumin 1 presented only 4.81% of total proteins of honey. Apalbumin 1 is thermostabile in honey at 80 degrees C incubated for 40 min. ELISA results show good precision in the evaluation of apalbumin 1 quantity in honey (CV ranged from 0.69 to 4.25%).