Metabolomic and proteomic profiling of royal jelly from honeybee (Apis mellifera) colonies fed with camellia versus rapeseed bee pollen

Royal jelly (RJ), a bioactive secretion of honeybees ( Apis mellifera ), is a functional food valued for its nutritional and therapeutic properties. Its physicochemical properties are critically influenced by pollen sources, a primary diet for honeybees. In this study, we investigated compositional changes of RJ produced from colonies fed camellia bee pollen (CBP) versus rapeseed bee pollen (RBP) through integrated metabolomic and proteomic approaches. We observed no significant differences in larval acceptance rate or RJ yield between the two RJ groups on feeding days 63, 66, and 69 ( p > 0.05). Principal component analysis (PCA) of metabolome data revealed an increasingly pronounced compositional divergence between the two RJ groups harvested on days 9, 21, 42, and 63. While trans -10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10-HDA) and major sugars (glucose, fructose, and sucrose) exhibited comparable abundance, RBP-RJ contained significantly higher abundance of multiple bioactive compounds, including kaempferol, lysine, taurine, trigonelline, and acetyltaurine, indicating superior nutritional value and potential functional benefits. Proteomic analysis of day-63 samples identified only nine low-abundance differentially expressed proteins (0.31% of total protein abundance), with no significant differences in major RJ protein (MRJP) levels. Our multi-omics findings highlight the compositional superiority of RBP-RJ, offering insights for optimizing dietary strategies in high-quality RJ production. • Camellia versus rapeseed bee pollen feeding showed comparable royal jelly yield. • Bee pollen diet-induced metabolomic divergence in royal jelly increased over time. • Rapeseed bee pollen diet led to higher levels of multiple bioactives in royal jelly. • Only nine low-abundance proteins differed significantly between the feeding groups.