• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
• /
• v.7
• /
• pp.99-107
• /
• 1989

The study was conducted to obtain some basic information to establish the system of performance-tests and selection of honeybee queens(Apis mellifera) under Korean circumstances, Colony performances were tested with thirty colonies of Apis mellifera at two apiaries in Taegu, Korea from September, 1988 to August 1989. The results of performance-testing on the colonies are summarized as follows : The colony weight measured before wintering was averaged $23.6{\pm}1.90kg$ and the colony weight was decreased by $2.9{\pm}0.82kg$ in average during winter season. Thirteen colonies were entered in two story hive from thirty single box colonies from April 17 to May 5, 1989 with increase of bee population and, consequently, the ability of enter-supers of the colonies apperared to be low. The ability of collecting pollen was measured to be $14.8{\pm}2.15gr$ per colony during 24 hours in April, and the number of swarm cells was counted $12.5{\pm}3.43$ cells per colony in aveage. Tendency to use propolis appeared to be moderate, and the number of returning foragers for a minute per colony was counted $108.7{\pm}18.31$ bees in average. Brood area was measured $2,464{\pm}628,67cm^2$ per colony in the post nectar flow season of acasia, and 30.8 percent of the colonies appeared to be infected with chalkbrood disease, The amount of honey production was $14.9{\pm}8.49kg$ per colony, which was harvested two times during the main nectar flow season of acasia.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.181-188
• /
• 2016

BtPlus is a group of biopesticides that are made of Bacillus thuringiensis and immunosuppressant. A new BtPlus that exhibits high insecticidal activity against mosquito larvae has been investigated in control efficacy in field conditions and its environmental safety against aquatic system. This study assessed the control efficacy of BtPlus against mosquito larvae with two different application methods. In aerial spraying application (100 mL per $3.3m^2$), BtPlus was effective at 50% or above formulation concentrations to control mosquito larvae. For a direct application to aqueous mosquito habitat, a semi-field mimicking paddy rice field was constructed. In this condition, BtPlus showed 80% and 100% control efficacies at 0.1% and 0.2% concentrations, respectively. BtPlus also showed 40% mortality against adults at 0.1% concentration in 10% sugar bait. However, its control efficacies against adults were much less than against larvae. Safety assessment of BtPlus against ecosystem was evaluated using young carp (Cyprinus carpio), a water flea (Daphnia magna), and a honey bee (Apis mellifera). BtPlus did not give any adverse effects on these nontarget organisms. Based on these results, BtPlus can be applied to control mosquitoes by direct aqueous application to paddy rice field.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.15 no.9
• /
• pp.5644-5651
• /
• 2014

Propolis is an extremely safe natural antimicrobial substance that has been reported to have powerful antibacterial efficacy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the inhibitory effects of propolis against Candida albicans (C. albicans). Propolis was collected from the honey bee Apis mellifera. The strain of C. albicans was cultivated overnight in liquid media incubated at $37^{\circ}C$. The antimicrobial activity was investigated using phosphate buffered saline (PBS), 3% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), 0.1% chorhexidine (CHX), and propolis extracts ($5{\mu}l/ml$, $10{\mu}l/ml$). C. albicans were sensitive to 3% NaOCl, 0.1% CHX, and propolis ($5{\mu}l/ml$, $10{\mu}l/ml$) with zones of inhibition of 15, 14.5, 16, and 17 mm, respectively. The CFU of PBS, 3% NaOCl, 0.1% CHX, $5{\mu}l/ml$ and $10{\mu}l/ml$ of propolis led a 1, 7, 7, 5 and 7-log reduction. Among the groups tested, C. albicans was most sensitive to $10{\mu}l/ml$ of propolis, which showed the largest inhibition zones. Therefore, propolis can be a new antimicrobial therapy for oral mucosa disease in traditional medicine.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.715-723
• /
• 2015

Insects represent the largest class within the animal kingdom in terms of species number. Humans had been utilized insect in the broad area, including food, agriculture, industry, pharmaceuticals and so on. At present, insects are emerging as a leading group for identifying and extracting novel bioactive substances due to enormous number and a high nutritional value. Insects rely on a suite of systemic response to resist infection such as immune cells, hemocytes, activation of enzymes cascades, and antimicrobial peptide/protein. Among the substances, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are main components of potent antimircrobial innate defense system into the insect hemolymph. AMPs raise influential candidate as avenue to resolve the development of antibiotic-resistant microbial organism. Insect AMPs are classified into four main classes: cecropins, insect defensins, glycine/proline-rich peptides. Insect AMPs have been purified, over 150. In this review, AMPs derived from several insects were summarized including honey bee, dung beetle, butterfly and longicorn beetle. These peptides almost exhibited potent antimicrobial activities against human microbial pathogens without causing remarkable hemolysis to erythrocytes excluding melittin, and their mode of action(s) are based on disruption of the plasma membrane or fungal apoptosis. Therefore, study of insect AMPs is expected to be useful for designing novel therapeutic antimicrobial applications.

• Journal of Apiculture
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.27-39
• /
• 2017

PCR-chip-based ultra-rapid multiplex PCRs for detection of six major infectious pathogens in honeybee were developed. The 6 kinds of major infectious pathogens in honeybee included Paenibacillus larvae causing American Foulbrood, Melissococcus plutonius causing European Foulbrood as bacteria, Ascosphaera apis (Chalkbrood), Aspergillus flavus (Stonebrood), Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae (Nosemosis) as fungi. The developed PCR-chip-based ultra-rapid multiplex PCR showed successful amplification for all six major pathogens in the presence of more than $10^3$ molecules. The time for confirming amplification (Threshold cycles; Ct-time) was about 7 minutes for two species, and about 9 minutes for four species. Total 40 cycles of PCR took 11 minutes 42 seconds and time for melting point analysis was 1 minute 15 seconds. Total time for whole PCR detection was estimated 12 minutes 57 seconds (40 cycles of PCR and melting point analysis). PCR-chip based ultra-rapid multiplex PCR using standard DNA substrates showed close to 100% accuracy and no false-amplification was found with honeybee genomic DNA. Ultra-rapid multiplex PCR is expected to be a fast and efficient pathogen detection method not only in the laboratory but also in the apiary field.

• Journal of Apiculture
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.261-268
• /
• 2017

We evaluated the nutritional composition including proximate, amino acid, vitamin, minerals, and the antioxidant activity of buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) pollen grains collected by Apis mellifera bees, to be used as a species of forage plant with Quercus acutissima (acorn) and Actinidia arguta pollen grains. The content of crude protein and fat were found 14.43% and 5.67%, respectively. Eighteen amino acids from buckwheat pollen were found, including 8 essential amino acids. The predominant amino acids were glutamic acid, aspartic acid and lysine, accounting for about 42.7% of total free amino acids. The concentration of vitamin C was the highest value of 13.7 mg/100g, followed by $B_3$ (niacin) and $B_1$ among the detected vitamins. The predominant minerals were potassium (1197.95mg/100g), followed by phosphorus (962.77mg/100g) and magnesium (535.42mg/100g), whereas copper, zinc and manganese were detected as minor elements. Antioxidant activity and total phenolic content accounted for 8.1% at $500{\mu}g/ml$ extract and $2.25{\mu}g/mg$, respectively.

• Journal of Apiculture
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.155-162
• /
• 2017

This research was carried out to evaluate the royal jelly production in Apis mellifera through the selection of superior honeybee lines. For the study, two inbred honeybee lines A and C were evaluated for the production of royal jelly by their workers, royal jelly production per colony (g), and the acceptance percentage of grafted larvae (%). The results showed that, the average royal jelly production per colony was highest ($33.7{\pm}7.41g$) in the inbred line C in comparison to other lines and the percentage of larvae acceptance ($87.8{\pm}7.5%$) was also highest in the inbred line C in comparison to other liens. The royal jelly produced by the three honeybee lines was analyzed for their trans-10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10-HDA) content using a column liquid chromatography technique. Chromatographic results showed that the royal jelly produced by the inbred honeybee line C had the maximum amount of 10-HDA. We also observed age-dependent alterations of the major royal jelly proteins (MRJPs), which were differentially expressed in the two inbred lines and the commercial line, using quantitative real time-PCR (qRT-PCR).

• Journal of Apiculture
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.9-19
• /
• 2020

The questionnaire survey for Apis cerana beekeepers and professionals on improved native bee hives was carried out and we compared the temperature, relative humidity(RH), and weight changes of 4 improved hives(Chungju, Miryang, Hanam, and Suwon) from May 1, 2019 to January 31, 2020. Beekeepers need vertical feeder, hive stand, entrance block, and separating panel as hive accessory devices. The average temperatures within brood area were kept constantly (31.3~35.1℃) and the low daily variances of temperature (≤1℃) in Chungju hive among tested hives were observed. The daily temperature variances in the separated space and on the top of winter cluster were not different among 4 hives. In correlation between the temperature of brood area and the number of combs, Chungju hive showed the highest correlation(80.4%) and between the temperature on top of winter clusters and outside temperature, 4 hives showed high positive correlation(76.8~87.1%). RH of brood area(45~60%) in all hives were kept relatively low and constant compared to the outside RH(60~85%). The stablest RH on the top of winter cluster was observed in Suwon hives (65~75%) The highest cumulative weight increase among hives and the high positive correlation(65~67%) between the change of cumulative hive weight and combs number of hives were shown in the Miryang and Chungju. Based on these results, A. cerana bees are able to manage constant temperature and RH within hives area for their colony life, which also effected by the types of hive.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.14-20
• /
• 2014

This study is aimed to search the possibility of developmental toxicity test using the zebrafish from the pesticide. We selected herbicides alachlor and butachlor, reported for fish toxicity, and insecticide fipronil reported for the high fish toxicity and the honey bee risk among the pesticides with high usability for the examples of the pesticides in this experiment. In this study, we showed those effects on the zebrafish embryo development by exposing different kinds of pesticide with different concentration and exposed time periods. As a result, the rates of hatching and abnormality of the zebrafish embryo after treatments of alachlor were increased in 24-48 hpf group, and the juvenile fishes in every group exposed to $40{\mu}M$ or more of alachlor displayed sever morphological changes such as bent tails, edema and activity failures. In case of the butachlor, the rates of hatching and the abnormality in 24-48 hpf group were higher than the other groups exposed in different time periods. The fatality before hatching was high in $40{\mu}M$ or more of butachlor treatment, and entire zebrafish embryos in 48 hpf group died before hatching. All the living juvenile fishes showed morphological changes as like as the treatment of alachlor. The rate of hatching and the survival of the zebrafish embryo by the fipronil were higher than other pesticides. However, morphological changes such as bent tails were observed from the most of living juvenile fishes. Therefore, the effects of three different pesticides with different concentrations and exposing time periods on the development of zebrafish embryos showed that all the pesticides effects were proportional to the concentration, and exposing time periods may cause the morphological abnormality.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.428-433
• /
• 2020

In this study, we created pupal stage extracts of Apis mellifera L. drones for use in cosmetic materials. The effect of the drone pupae extract (DPE) on HDF cells was assessed for analysis of anti-wrinkle activity by collagen or collagenase gene expression, and the skin-lightening effect was studied by in vitro tyrosinase inhibition and B16F10 melanoma assay; the two cells were found to be non-cellular when the concentration of DPE was 100 ㎍/ml. Albutin concentration (positive control) in the whitening test was set at a capacity of 100 ug/ml and m-melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH). A melanin-producing induction material was set at a concentration of 100 nM, and the expression of collagen type I and MMP1 collagenase was measured using HDF cells. MMP1 expression was seen to reduce in a concentration-dependent manner in treatment with DPE. Inhibiting melanin generation with B16F12 cells indicated a tendency to decrease in the DPE treatment group. Both L-Tyrosine and L-DOPA as DPE were used in an in vitro tyrosinase induction test to demonstrate the effects of tyrosinase suppression on concentrations. The higher the concentration of DPE, the greater the wrinkle reduction and whitening effect. In conclusion, it was found that DPE is an effective smoothing and whitening material by increasing collagen generation and inhibiting collagenase expression and reducing melanin production.