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Al Naggar Y, Taha IM, Taha EKA, Zaghlool A, Nasr A, Nagib A, Elhamamsy SM, Abolaban G, Fahmy A, Hegazy E, Metwaly KH, Zahra AA. Gamma irradiation and ozone application as preservation methods for longer-term storage of bee pollen. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2024; 31:25192-25201. [PMID: 38462566 PMCID: PMC11023998 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-024-32801-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2023] [Accepted: 03/03/2024] [Indexed: 03/12/2024]
Abstract
Bee pollen is a healthy product with a good nutritional profile and therapeutic properties. Its high moisture content, however, promotes the growth of bacteria, molds, and yeast during storage commonly result in product degradation. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of gamma irradiation (GI) and ozone (OZ) as bee pollen preservation methods for longer storage time, as well as whether they are influenced by pollen species. To do that, GI at a dosage of 2.5, 5.0, and 7.5 kGy was applied at a rate of 0.68 kGy/h and OZ application at a concentration of 0.01, 0.02, and 0.03 g/m3 was applied for one time for 6 h, to Egyptian clover and maize bee pollen, then stored at ambient temperature for 6 months. We then determined the total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity of treated and non-treated pollen samples at 0, 3, and 6 months of storage. Total bacteria, mold, and yeast count were also evaluated at 0, 2, 4, and 6 months. Statistical analyses revealed that, TPC, antioxidant, and microbial load of both clover and maize pollen samples were significantly (p < 0.05) affected by both treatment and storage time and their interaction. Both methods were extremely effective at preserving the antioxidant properties of pollen samples after 6 months of storage at room temperature. Furthermore, the highest concentrations of both GI and OZ applications completely protected pollen samples from mold and yeast while decreasing bacterial contamination. GI at the highest dose (7.5 KGy) was found to be more effective than other GI doses and OZ application in preserving biologically active compounds and lowering the microbial count of pollen samples for 6 months. As a result, we advise beekeepers to use GI at this dose for longer-term storage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yahya Al Naggar
- Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta, 31527, Egypt.
- Center of Bee Research and its Products, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha, 61413, Saudi Arabia.
| | - Ibrahim M Taha
- Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Nasr City, Cairo, 11884, Egypt
| | - El-Kazafy A Taha
- Department of Economic Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafr Elsheikh University, Kafr Elsheikh, 33516, Egypt
| | - Ayman Zaghlool
- Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Nasr City, Cairo, 11884, Egypt
| | - Ali Nasr
- Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Nasr City, Cairo, 11884, Egypt
| | - Ashraf Nagib
- Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Nasr City, Cairo, 11884, Egypt
| | - Sam M Elhamamsy
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Nasr City, Cairo, 11884, Egypt
| | - Gomaa Abolaban
- Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Nasr City, Cairo, 11884, Egypt
| | - Alaa Fahmy
- Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, 11884, Egypt
- Petrochemicals Department, Faculty of Engineering, Pharos University in Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt
| | - Eslam Hegazy
- Department of Food Irradiation, National Centre for Radiation Research and Technology (NCRRT), Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (EAEA), Cairo, 11787, Egypt
| | - Khaled H Metwaly
- Center of Plasma Technology, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, 11884, Egypt
| | - Abdullah A Zahra
- Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Nasr City, Cairo, 11884, Egypt
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San Martin G, Hautier L, Mingeot D, Dubois B. How reliable is metabarcoding for pollen identification? An evaluation of different taxonomic assignment strategies by cross-validation. PeerJ 2024; 12:e16567. [PMID: 38313030 PMCID: PMC10838070 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.16567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2023] [Accepted: 11/12/2023] [Indexed: 02/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Metabarcoding is a powerful tool, increasingly used in many disciplines of environmental sciences. However, to assign a taxon to a DNA sequence, bioinformaticians need to choose between different strategies or parameter values and these choices sometimes seem rather arbitrary. In this work, we present a case study on ITS2 and rbcL databases used to identify pollen collected by bees in Belgium. We blasted a random sample of sequences from the reference database against the remainder of the database using different strategies and compared the known taxonomy with the predicted one. This in silico cross-validation (CV) approach proved to be an easy yet powerful way to (1) assess the relative accuracy of taxonomic predictions, (2) define rules to discard dubious taxonomic assignments and (3) provide a more objective basis to choose the best strategy. We obtained the best results with the best blast hit (best bit score) rather than by selecting the majority taxon from the top 10 hits. The predictions were further improved by favouring the most frequent taxon among those with tied best bit scores. We obtained better results with databases containing the full sequences available on NCBI rather than restricting the sequences to the region amplified by the primers chosen in our study. Leaked CV showed that when the true sequence is present in the database, blast might still struggle to match the right taxon at the species level, particularly with rbcL. Classical 10-fold CV-where the true sequence is removed from the database-offers a different yet more realistic view of the true error rates. Taxonomic predictions with this approach worked well up to the genus level, particularly for ITS2 (5-7% of errors). Using a database containing only the local flora of Belgium did not improve the predictions up to the genus level for local species and made them worse for foreign species. At the species level, using a database containing exclusively local species improved the predictions for local species by ∼12% but the error rate remained rather high: 25% for ITS2 and 42% for rbcL. Foreign species performed worse even when using a world database (59-79% of errors). We used classification trees and GLMs to model the % of errors vs. identity and consensus scores and determine appropriate thresholds below which the taxonomic assignment should be discarded. This resulted in a significant reduction in prediction errors, but at the cost of a much higher proportion of unassigned sequences. Despite this stringent filtering, at least 1/5 sequences deemed suitable for species-level identification ultimately proved to be misidentified. An examination of the variability in prediction accuracy between plant families showed that rbcL outperformed ITS2 for only two of the 27 families examined, and that the % correct species-level assignments were much better for some families (e.g. 95% for Sapindaceae) than for others (e.g. 35% for Salicaceae).
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Affiliation(s)
- Gilles San Martin
- Life Sciences Department, Plant and Forest Health Unit, Walloon Agricultural Research Centre, Gembloux, Belgium
| | - Louis Hautier
- Life Sciences Department, Plant and Forest Health Unit, Walloon Agricultural Research Centre, Gembloux, Belgium
| | - Dominique Mingeot
- Life Sciences Department, Bioengineering Unit, Walloon Agricultural Research Centre, Gembloux, Belgium
| | - Benjamin Dubois
- Life Sciences Department, Bioengineering Unit, Walloon Agricultural Research Centre, Gembloux, Belgium
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Quaresma A, Ankenbrand MJ, Garcia CAY, Rufino J, Honrado M, Amaral J, Brodschneider R, Brusbardis V, Gratzer K, Hatjina F, Kilpinen O, Pietropaoli M, Roessink I, van der Steen J, Vejsnæs F, Pinto MA, Keller A. Semi-automated sequence curation for reliable reference datasets in ITS2 vascular plant DNA (meta-)barcoding. Sci Data 2024; 11:129. [PMID: 38272945 PMCID: PMC10810873 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-024-02962-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2023] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 01/27/2024] Open
Abstract
One of the most critical steps for accurate taxonomic identification in DNA (meta)-barcoding is to have an accurate DNA reference sequence dataset for the marker of choice. Therefore, developing such a dataset has been a long-term ambition, especially in the Viridiplantae kingdom. Typically, reference datasets are constructed with sequences downloaded from general public databases, which can carry taxonomic and other relevant errors. Herein, we constructed a curated (i) global dataset, (ii) European crop dataset, and (iii) 27 datasets for the EU countries for the ITS2 barcoding marker of vascular plants. To that end, we first developed a pipeline script that entails (i) an automated curation stage comprising five filters, (ii) manual taxonomic correction for misclassified taxa, and (iii) manual addition of newly sequenced species. The pipeline allows easy updating of the curated datasets. With this approach, 13% of the sequences, corresponding to 7% of species originally imported from GenBank, were discarded. Further, 259 sequences were manually added to the curated global dataset, which now comprises 307,977 sequences of 111,382 plant species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreia Quaresma
- Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253, Bragança, Portugal
- Laboratório Associado para a Sustentabilidade e Tecnologia em Regiões de Montanha (SusTEC), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253, Bragança, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, S/N, Edifício FC4, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal
- CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661, Vairão, Vila do Conde, Portugal
- BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, 4485-661, Vairão, Vila do Conde, Portugal
| | - Markus J Ankenbrand
- Center for Computational and Theoretical Biology, Faculty of Biology, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Klara-Oppenheimer-Weg 32, 97074, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Carlos Ariel Yadró Garcia
- Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253, Bragança, Portugal
- Laboratório Associado para a Sustentabilidade e Tecnologia em Regiões de Montanha (SusTEC), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253, Bragança, Portugal
| | - José Rufino
- Laboratório Associado para a Sustentabilidade e Tecnologia em Regiões de Montanha (SusTEC), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253, Bragança, Portugal
- Research Centre in Digitalization and Intelligent Robotics (CeDRI), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Bragança, Portugal
| | - Mónica Honrado
- Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253, Bragança, Portugal
- Laboratório Associado para a Sustentabilidade e Tecnologia em Regiões de Montanha (SusTEC), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253, Bragança, Portugal
| | - Joana Amaral
- Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253, Bragança, Portugal
- Laboratório Associado para a Sustentabilidade e Tecnologia em Regiões de Montanha (SusTEC), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253, Bragança, Portugal
| | - Robert Brodschneider
- Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010, Graz, Austria
| | - Valters Brusbardis
- Latvian Beekeepers' Association (LBA), Rigas iela 22, LV-3004, Jelgava, Latvia
| | - Kristina Gratzer
- Institute of Biology, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010, Graz, Austria
| | - Fani Hatjina
- Ellinikos Georgikos Organismos DIMITRA (ELGO- DIMITRA), Kourtidou 56-58, GR-11145, Athina, Greece
| | - Ole Kilpinen
- Danish Beekeepers Association (DBF), Fulbyvej 15, DK-4180, Sorø, Denmark
| | - Marco Pietropaoli
- Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana "M. Aleandri" (IZSLT), Via Appia Nuova 1411, IT-00178, Roma, Italy
| | - Ivo Roessink
- Wageningen Environmental Research, WageningenUniversity&Research, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, 6700 AA, Wageningen, Netherlands
| | | | - Flemming Vejsnæs
- Danish Beekeepers Association (DBF), Fulbyvej 15, DK-4180, Sorø, Denmark
| | - M Alice Pinto
- Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253, Bragança, Portugal
- Laboratório Associado para a Sustentabilidade e Tecnologia em Regiões de Montanha (SusTEC), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253, Bragança, Portugal
| | - Alexander Keller
- Cellular and Organismic Interactions, Biocenter, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Großhaderner Str. 2-4, 82152, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany.
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