A Novel Approach for Proteomic Characterization of Honey Bee Venom by LCMS-QTOF

Honey bee (Apis mellifera L) venom is a complex mixture of bioactive compounds. This study aims to characterize bioactive compounds present in the venom of A. mellifera, by a novel QTOF-MS approach. The crude venom extracted by the standard procedure of QTOF-MS characterization revealed the presence of 135 known compounds, including their average mass, proteins, post-translational modification profile, peptides, and accession numbers. Melittin (87.39%), royal jelly protein (0.39%), PLA2 (2.98%), serine protease (3.35%), Down syndrome cell adhesion (5.74%) and hyalurono-glucosaminidase (0.12%) were identified as abundant proteins among other compounds characterized from crude venom. As honeybee venom has been the subject of immense research due to its pharmaceutical properties, the given data will enhance the knowledge of elements present in A. mellifera venom. This study will establish the basis for comparative studies of different honeybee venom, to aid in the development of venom therapeutical applications and new drug discovery.