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Pollen and nectar can be contaminated with a range of pesticides, including insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides. Since these matrices are important food sources for pollinators and other beneficial insects, their contamination can represent a key route of exposure. However, limited knowledge exists with respect to pesticide residue levels and their dynamics in these matrices for many crops and active ingredients (AIs). We used controlled glasshouse studies to investigate the residue dynamics of a systemic (cyprodinil) and a contact (fludioxonil) fungicide in the floral matrices and other plant parts of courgette/zucchini (Cucurbita pepo L.). We aimed to better understand the processes behind residue accumulation and decline in pollen and nectar. Each AI was applied to plants, either by spraying whole plants or by targeted spraying onto leaves only. Samples of pollen, nectar, anthers, flowers, and leaves were taken on the day of application and each subsequent morning for up to 13 days and analysed for residues using LC-MS/MS. Significant differences in residue levels and dynamics were found between AIs and floral matrices. The present study allowed for the identification of potential routes by which residues translocate between tissues and to link those to the physicochemical properties of each AI, which may facilitate the prediction of residue levels in pollen and nectar. Residues of the contact AI declined more quickly than those of the systemic AI in pollen and nectar. Our results further suggest that the risk of oral exposure for pollinators may be considerably reduced by using contact AIs during the green bud stage of plants, but application of systemic compounds could still result in a low, but continuous long-term exposure for pollinators with limited decline., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: We wish to draw attention to the fact that the first author's PhD project was funded by Syngenta Ltd, a company manufacturing and selling plant protection products. Furthermore, some of the co-authors are employed by Syngenta Fiona Gierer reports financial support and equipment, drugs, or supplies were provided by Syngenta Ltd., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Plant biodiversity is crucial to satisfy the trophic needs of pollinators, mainly through nectar and pollen rewards. However, a few studies have been directed to ascertain the intraspecific variation of chemical features and the nutritional value of nectar and pollen floral rewards in relation to the alteration of landscapes due to human activities. In this study, by using an existing scenario of land use gradients as an open air laboratory, we tested the variation in pollen and nectar nutrient profiles along gradients of urbanization and agriculture intensity, by focusing on sugar, aminoacids of nectar and phytochemicals of pollen from local wild plants. We also highlighted bioactive compounds from plants primary and secondary metabolism due to their importance for insect wellbeing and pollinator health. We surveyed 7 different meadow species foraged by pollinators and common in the main land uses studied. The results indicated that significant variations of nutritional components occur in relation to different land uses, and specifically that the agricultural intensification decreases the sugars and increases the antioxidant content of flower rewards, while the urbanization is positively associated with the total flavonoid content in pollen. These effects are more evident in some species than in others, such as Lotus corniculatus L. (Fabaceae) and Malva sylvestris L. (Malvaceae), as shown by the untargeted metabolomic investigation. This study is crucial for understanding the nutritional landscape quality for pollinators in association to different land uses and sets a base for landscape management and planning of pollinator-friendly strategies by improving the quality of plant rewards to provide benefits to pollinator health in various environmental contexts., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Appraised for being one of the oldest staple nutritive foods mainly in the Arabian Peninsula, the date palm tree ( Phoenix dactylifera L.), is a crop native to the subtropical and tropical regions of Southern Asia and Africa. Different parts of the date tree have been extensively studied for their nutritional and therapeutic properties. Despite an array of publications on the date tree, there has been no attempt to compile in a single study the traditional uses, nutritive value, phytochemical profile, the medicinal properties as well as the potential of the different plant parts as a functional food. Therefore, this review endeavors to systematically review the scientific literature to highlight the traditional uses of date fruit and parts around the world, the nutritional profile of several parts and the medicinal properties. A total of 215 studies was retrieved (traditional uses (n = 26), nutritional (n = 52), and medicinal (n = 84)). Scientific articles were further categorized as in vitro (n = 33), in vivo (n = 35), and clinical (n = 16) evidences. Date seeds were found to be effective against E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus . Aqueous date pollen was used to manage hormonal problems and boost fertility. Palm leaves showed anti-hyperglycemic effects via inhibition of α-amylase and α-glucosidase. Unlike previous studies, this study highlighted the functional roles of all the plant parts of the palm tree and provided insights into the various mechanism of action of their bioactive compounds. Although scientific shreds of evidence have been growing over the years, there is still a dearth of studies concerning the clinical validation of the date fruit and other plant parts to provide strong evidence on their medicinal uses. In conclusion, P. dactylifera can be regarded as a potent medicinal plant with prophylactic potential and should be further explored to alleviate the burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases.

The study was designed to test the feasibility of using 3D-printed pollen traps for long-term monitoring of Bombus terrestris colonies' exposure to pesticide residues in pollen loads collected by them, along with an assessment of the resulting risks to the bumblebee's adults, larvae, and queens. Bumblebee colonies were placed in the vicinity of flowering orchards, winter oilseed rape, allotments, or home gardens for 6 weeks of the experiment. Pollen traps printed in 3D technology were installed in the hive inlets. The weight of bumblebee pollen loads obtained using pollen traps was in the range of 0.036-5.83 g. Pollen load samples were analyzed for residues of up to 261 pesticides and their metabolites by liquid and gas chromatography techniques coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS). Residues of 18 fungicides, 12 herbicides, 6 insecticides, and an acaricide were detected. Herbicide - pendimethalin, fungicide - thiophanate-methyl, and insecticide - chlorpyrifos-ethyl were the most commonly detected pesticides. Chlorpyrifos and thiacloprid residues were detected in pollen load samples in the next year after their ban from use as plant protection products in the European Union. The risk of acute or chronic effects was assessed as negligible or low, although the chronic risk of bumblebee queens to insecticide chlorpyrifos and the acute risk of larvae exposed to acaricide fenpyroximate could be interpreted as moderate. The risk of sublethal effects related to chronic exposure of adult bumblebees and queens to pollen loads contaminated by chlorpyrifos-ethyl and cypermethrin cannot be excluded. The risk of chronic toxicity or sublethal effects may be particularly relevant for bumblebee queens, especially during their foraging in the initial period of establishing a new colony., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

High concentrations of airborne pollen trigger seasonal allergies and possibly more severe adverse respiratory and cardiovascular health events. Predicting pollen concentration accurately is valuable for epidemiological studies, in order to study the effects of pollen exposure. We aimed to develop a spatiotemporal machine learning model predicting daily pollen concentrations at a spatial resolution of 1 × 1 km across Switzerland between 2000 and 2019. Daily pollen concentrations for five common, highly allergenic pollen types (hazel, alder, birch ash, and grasses) were available from fourteen measurement sites across Switzerland. We considered several predictors such as elevation, species distribution, wind speed, wind direction, temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, satellite-observed Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, and land-use (CORINE, Landsat satellite) to explain variation in pollen concentration. We employed feature engineering techniques to encode categorical variables and fill in missing values. We applied a random forest machine learning model with 5-fold cross-validation. The 5th-99th percentiles for concentrations of hazel, alder, birch, ash, and grass pollen at the pollen monitoring stations were 0-298, 0-306, 0-1153, 0-800, and 0-290 pollen grains/m 3 , respectively. The results of a predictive model for these concentrations yielded overall R 2 values of 0.87, 0.84, 0.89, 0.88, and 0.91, and temporal root mean squared errors (RMSEs) of 16.07, 16.72, 69.04, 41.50, and 22.45 pollen grains/m 3 . An analysis of predictor variable importance indicates that the average national daily pollen concentration is the most important predictor of pollen concentrations for all pollen types. Furthermore, meteorological variables including temperature, total precipitation, humidity, boundary layer height, wind speed, and wind direction, as well as date and satellite features, are important factors in pollen concentration prediction. These spatiotemporal pollen models will serve to estimate individual residential pollen exposure for epidemiological studies. Resulting estimates will enable us to study respiratory and cardiovascular mortality and hospital admissions in Switzerland., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Many pollinator species are declining due to a variety of interacting stressors including pathogens, sparking interest in understanding factors that could mitigate these outcomes. Diet can affect host-pathogen interactions by changing nutritional reserves or providing bioactive secondary chemicals. Recent work found that sunflower pollen (Helianthus annuus) dramatically reduced cell counts of the gut pathogen Crithidia bombi in bumble bee workers (Bombus impatiens), but the mechanism underlying this effect is unknown. Here we analyzed methanolic extracts of sunflower pollen by LC-MS and identified triscoumaroyl spermidines as the major secondary metabolite components, along with a flavonoid quercetin-3-O-hexoside and a quercetin-3-O-(6-O-malonyl)-hexoside. We then tested the effect of triscoumaroyl spermidine and rutin (as a proxy for quercetin glycosides) on Crithidia infection in B. impatiens, compared to buckwheat pollen (Fagopyrum esculentum) as a negative control and sunflower pollen as a positive control. In addition, we tested the effect of nine fatty acids from sunflower pollen individually and in combination using similar methods. Although sunflower pollen consistently reduced Crithidia relative to control pollen, none of the compounds we tested had significant effects. In addition, diet treatments did not affect mortality, or sucrose or pollen consumption. Thus, the mechanisms underlying the medicinal effect of sunflower are still unknown; future work could use bioactivity-guided fractionation to more efficiently target compounds of interest, and explore non-chemical mechanisms. Ultimately, identifying the mechanism underlying the effect of sunflower pollen on pathogens will open up new avenues for managing bee health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aeroallergens or inhalant allergens, are proteins dispersed through the air and have the potential to induce allergic conditions such as rhinitis, conjunctivitis, and asthma. Outdoor aeroallergens are found predominantly in pollen grains and fungal spores, which are allergen carriers. Aeroallergens from pollen and fungi have seasonal emission patterns that correlate with plant pollination and fungal sporulation and are strongly associated with atmospheric weather conditions. They are released when allergen carriers come in contact with the respiratory system, e.g. the nasal mucosa. In addition, due to the rupture of allergen carriers, airborne allergen molecules may be released directly into the air in the form of micronic and submicronic particles (cytoplasmic debris, cell wall fragments, droplets etc.) or adhered onto other airborne particulate matter. Therefore, aeroallergen detection strategies must consider, in addition to the allergen carriers, the allergen molecules themselves. This review article aims to present the current knowledge on inhalant allergens in the outdoor environment, their structure, localization, and factors affecting their production, transformation, release or degradation. In addition, methods for collecting and quantifying aeroallergens are listed and thoroughly discussed. Finally, the knowledge gaps, challenges and implications associated with aeroallergen analysis are described., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Importance: Bees are a valuable model for investigating the relationship between environmental factors, gut microbiota, and organismal health. Beebread, produced from collected pollen, is a natural food source and a primary reservoir of gut microorganisms. Although pollen typically has diverse bacterial species, beebread has low species richness and bacterial abundance. Consequently, considerable attention has been paid to the adaptive strategies employed by honey bees to cope with the microorganisms within their food environment during co-evolution with plants. This study identified the distribution patterns of beebread's physicochemical characteristics, showing how bees use fermentation to enrich specific microbes. These findings help understand the relationship between environmental and food-associated microbes and bee intestinal microbiota. They also bridge gaps in the literature and provide a valuable reference for studying the complex interplay between these factors., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Pollen, a remarkably versatile natural compound collected by bees for its abundant source of proteins and nutrients, represents a rich reservoir of diverse bioactive compounds with noteworthy chemical and therapeutic potential. Its extensive biological effects have been known and exploited since ancient times. Today, there is an increased interest in finding natural compounds against oxidative stress, a factor that contributes to various diseases. Recent research has unraveled a multitude of biological activities associated with bee pollen, ranging from antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antifungal properties to potential antiviral and anticancer applications. Comprehending the extensive repertoire of biological properties across various pollen sources remains challenging. By investigating a spectrum of pollen types and their chemical composition, this review produces an updated analysis of the bioactive constituents and the therapeutic prospects they offer. This review emphasizes the necessity for further exploration and standardization of diverse pollen sources and bioactive compounds that could contribute to the development of innovative therapies.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) can cause urethral compression, bladder stone formation, and renal function damage, which may endanger the life of patients. Therefore, we aimed to develop plant-based preparations for BPH treatment with no side effects. In this study, the Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 322Hp, Lactobacillus acidophilus 322Ha, and Limosilactobacillus reuteri 322Hr were used to ferment rape pollen. The fermented rape pollen was subsequently converted into fermented rape pollen powder (FRPP) through vacuum freeze-drying technology. After fermenting and drying, the bioactive substances and antioxidant capacity of FRPP were significantly higher than those of unfermented rapeseed pollen, and FRPP had a longer storage duration, which can be stored for over one year. To investigate the therapeutic effect of FRPP on BPH, a BPH rat model was established by hypodermic injection of testosterone propionate. The BPH rats were treated differently, with the model group receiving normal saline, the positive control group receiving finasteride, and the low, medium, and high dose FRPP group receiving FRPP at doses of 0.14 g/kg/d, 0.28 g/kg/d, and 0.56 g/kg/d, respectively. The results indicate that medium dose FRPP reduced the levels of hormone such as testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, and oestradiol in rats with BPH by about 32%, thus bringing the prostate tissue of BPH rats closer to normal. More importantly, medium dose FRPP treatment had a significant effect on the composition of gut microbiota in rats with BPH, increasing the levels of beneficial genera (such as Coprococcus and Jeotgalicoccus), and decreasing the levels of harmful pathogens (such as Turicibacter and Clostridiaceae_Clostridium) in the gut. This study showed that medium dose FRPP reduced the hormone level and regulated the unbalanced gut microbiota in BPH rats, thereby alleviating BPH.

Nowadays, bee products are commended by consumers for their medicinal and dietary properties. This study aimed to differentiate between monofloral bee pollens originating from Portugal using phenolic and volatile profiles and investigate their antioxidant and cytotoxic activity. Total phenolic and flavonoid compounds were recorded between 2.9-35.8 mg GAE/g and 0.7-4.8 mg QE/g, respectively. The LC/DAD/ESI-MS n analytical results allowed us to identify and quantify a total of 72 compounds, including phenolic and phenylamide compounds, whereas GC-MS results revealed the presence of 49 different compounds, mostly ketones, aldehydes, esters, hydrocarbons, and terpenes. The highest DPPH • radical scavenging activity, EC 50 : 0.07 mg/mL, was recorded in the sample dominated by Castanae sp. pollen, whereas the Rubus sp. (1.59 mM Trolox/mg) and Cistaceae sp. (0.09 mg GAE/g) pollen species exhibited the highest antioxidant activity in ABTS •+ and reducing power assays, respectively. Regarding the anti-carcinogenic activity, only Carduus sp. showed remarkable cytotoxic potential against MCF-7.

Neonicotinoids are a class of neuro-active insecticides widely used to protect major crops, primarily because of their broad-spectrum insecticidal activity and low vertebrate toxicity. Owing to their systemic nature, plants readily take up neonicotinoids and translocate them through roots, leaves, and other tissues to flowers (pollen and nectar) that serve as a critical point of exposure to pollinators foraging on treated plants. The growing evidence for potential adverse effects on non-target species, especially pollinators, and persistence has raised serious concerns, as these pesticides are increasingly prevalent in terrestrial and aquatic systems. Despite increasing research efforts, our understanding of the potential toxicity of neonicotinoids and the risks they pose to non-target species remains limited. Therefore, this critical review provides a succinct evaluation of the uptake, translocation, and accumulation processes of neonicotinoids in plants and the factors that may affect the eventual build-up of neonicotinoids in pollen and nectar. The role of plant species, as well as the physicochemical properties and application methods of neonicotinoids is discussed. Potential knowledge gaps are identified, and questions meriting future research are suggested for improving our understanding of the relationship between neonicotinoid residues in plants and exposure to pollinators., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Bee pollen is a byproduct of pollination, which is a necessary process to produce foods. However, bee pollen can induce significant food-borne allergies. We previously identified a bee pollen-derived pan-allergen in the profilin family, Bra c p. Herein, we aimed to reduce Bra c p allergenicity via protein oxidation with hydrogen peroxide and explore the changes induced. Ion-mobility mass spectrometry revealed aggregation of the oxidized product; we also found irreversible sulfonation of the free sulfhydryl group of the Bra c p Cys98 residue to a more stable cysteine derivative. A significant proportion of the α-helices in Bra c p were transformed into β-sheets after oxidation, masking the antigenic epitopes. An immunoassay demonstrated that the IgE-binding affinity of Bra c p was decreased in vitro after oxidation. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing the application of protein oxidation to reduce the allergenicity of profilin family member in foods., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Climate change is disrupting phenology and interaction patterns of natural ecosystems, but also human activities that modify land-uses have a direct impact, especially on species distribution and loss of biodiversity. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of climate and land-use changes on phenology and airborne pollen spectrum in a Mediterranean natural area, dominated by Quercus Forest and 'dehesa', in the South of the Iberian Peninsula. 61 different pollen types were identified over a 23-year period (1998-2020), mainly from trees and shrubs, such as Quercus, Olea, Pinus or Pistacia, and from herbaceous plants, such as Poaceae, Plantago, Urticaceae or Rumex. A comparison of pollen data from the first years of the study (1998-2002) up recent years (2016-2020), showed a substantial decrease in the relative abundance of pollen from autochthonous species associated with natural areas, such as Quercus or Plantago. However, the relative abundance of the pollen from cultivated ones such as Olea and Pinus, which is used for reforestation has increased. Regarding flowering phenology trends, our analyses revealed variations between -1.5 and 1.5 days per year. Taxa showing an advance phenology were Olea, Poaceae and Urticaceae, whereas Quercus, Pinus, Plantago, Pistacia or Cyperaceae experienced delayed pollination. Meteorological trends in the area generally resulted in an increase in both minimum and maximum temperatures, along with a decrease in precipitations. Changes in pollen concentration and phenology were correlated with changes in air temperatures and precipitation, although the positive or negative influence varied for each pollen type. The results suggest that climate change together with those motivated by land cover changes lead by human activities are having an impact on the phenology and pollen concentration, with the related consequences on pollination and therefore biodiversity more concerning in threatened areas as the Mediterranean Basin., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Guttation consumption is a potential pathway of pesticide residue exposure in honeybees. However, modeling tools for assessing honeybee exposure to pesticide residues in guttation drops are lacking. In this study, we propose an indicator-based approach for qualitatively or quantitatively analyzing the guttation-based exposure pathway, allowing us to conduct region-specific pesticide residue exposure assessments for honeybees. Exposure scores (the product of guttation production and residue level scores) were established to compare or rank honeybee exposure to pesticide residues via guttation intake across locations using three specified indicators (i.e., air temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation intensity). Warm, dry regions had high residue level scores (indicating high residue levels in guttation), whereas cold, wet regions had high guttation production scores (indicating high possibilities of guttation formation on leaf surfaces); their exposure scores were a combination of these two values. We evaluated and ranked honeybee exposure to imidacloprid residue across regions in Brazil, China, the United States, and selected European Union member states, revealing that pesticide application in many Brazilian federative units may raise honeybee risks due to high exposure scores. We also compared the guttation pathway to other common exposure pathways (nectar and pollen), suggesting that for some moderately lipophilic compounds, the guttation exposure pathway may not be ignored and should be further evaluated., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The influence of the most frequent patterns of synoptic circulation on the dynamics of airborne pollen/spores recorded at the Barcelona Aerobiological Station (BCN) was analysed. Six pollen types (Platanus, Cupressaceae, Olea, Poaceae, Urticaceae and Amaranthaceae), and one fungal spore (Alternaria) were selected for their high allergenic effect in sensitive people. Six synoptic meteorological patterns were identified through cluster analysis of sea level pressure fields as the main responsible of the weather conditions in the Iberian Peninsula. The local meteorological conditions in Barcelona associated with each one of the synoptic types were also stablished. Different statistical methods were applied to analyse possible relationships between concentrations and timing of the recorded aerobiological particles and specific synoptic types. The study, focused in the 19-year period 2001-2019, shows that one of the scenarios, frequent in winter and linked to high stability and air-mass blockage, registered the highest mean and median values for Platanus and Cupressaceae, but it was not very relevant for the other taxa. It was also this scenario that turned out to be the most influent on the pollination timing showing a significant influence on the start occurrence of Urticaceae flowering and on the peak date of Platanus. On the other hand, the most frequent synoptic type in the period, relevant in spring and summer, was linked to sporadic episodes of levels considered to be of high risk of allergy to Platanus, Poaceae, and Urticaceae pollen, and Alternaria fungal spore. This synoptic pattern, characterized by the presence of the Azores anticyclone and the Atlantic low located in the north of the United Kingdom, was associated with high temperatures, low relative humidity and moderate winds from the NW in Barcelona. The identification of an interaction between synoptic meteorology and pollen/spore dynamics will allow better abatement measures, reducing adverse health effects on sensitive population., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The emission of bioaerosols in the ambient atmosphere from different sources is a cause of concern for human health and the environment. Bioaerosols are a combination of biotic matter like microbes and pollens. The present review emphasizes the understanding of various sources of bioaerosols (industries, municipal solid waste, and medical facilities), their components, and their impact on human health. The study of bioaerosols is of great importance as large numbers of people are estimated to be exposed on the global scale. Bioaerosols exposure in different work environments results in health issues such as infectious diseases, allergies, toxic effects, and respiratory problems. Hence, extensive research is urged to establish an effective assessment of bioaerosols exposure in the workplace, risks involved, distribution, and validation. The present review is intended to explore the relationship between bioaerosols exposure to the atmosphere and its impacts on human health. Some of the preliminary findings, based on our analysis of bioaerosols arising from municipal solid waste at a landfill site and a waste transfer station in Hyderabad, India, are also discussed herein., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

With a high number of athletes using sport supplements targeting different results, the need for complex, natural and effective formulations represents an actual reality, while nutrition dosing regimens aiming to sustain the health and performance of athletes are always challenging. In this context, the main goal of this study was to elaborate a novel and complex nutraceutical supplement based on multiple bioactive compounds extracted from Aronia melanocarpa and bee pollen, aiming to support physiological adaptations and to minimize the stress generated by intense physical activity in the case of professional or amateur athletes. Our proposed formulations are based on different combinations of Aronia and bee pollen (A1:P1, A1:P2 and A2:P1), offering personalized supplements designed to fulfill the individual requirements of different categories of athletes. The approximate composition, fatty acid profile, identification and quantification of individual polyphenols, along with the antioxidant capacity of raw biological materials and different formulations, was performed using spectrophotometric methods, GS-MS and HPLC-DAD-MS-ESI+. In terms of antioxidant capacity, our formulations based on different ratios of bee pollen and Aronia were able to act as complex and powerful antioxidant products, highlighted by the synergic or additional effect of the combinations. Overall, the most powerful synergism was obtained for the A1:P2 formulation.

Premise: Optimal defense theory predicts that selection should drive plants to disproportionally allocate resources for herbivore defense to tissues with high fitness values. Because pollen's primary role is the transport of gametes, plants may be expected to defend it from herbivory. However, for many animal‐pollinated plants, pollen serves a secondary role as a pollinator reward. These dual roles may present a conflict between selection to defend pollen from herbivores and selection to reward pollinators. Here, we investigate whether pollen secondary chemistry in three pollen‐rewarding Lupinus species better reflects the need to defend pollen or reward pollinators. Methods: Lupinus (Fabaceae) species are nectarless, pollen‐rewarding, and produce defensive quinolizidine and/or piperidine alkaloids throughout their tissues. We used gas chromatography to identify and quantitate the alkaloids in four aboveground tissues (pollen, flower, leaf, stem) of three western North American lupines, L. argenteus, L. bakeri, and L. sulphureus, and compared alkaloid concentrations and composition among tissues within individuals. Results: In L. argenteus and L. sulphureus, pollen alkaloid concentrations were 11–35% of those found in other tissues. We detected no alkaloids in L. bakeri pollen, though they were present in other tissues. Alkaloid concentrations were not strongly correlated among tissues within individuals. We detected fewer alkaloids in pollen compared to other tissues, and pollen contained no unique alkaloids. Conclusions: Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that, in these pollen‐rewarding species, pollen secondary chemistry may reflect the need to attract and reward pollinators more than the need to defend pollen from herbivory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An area with the potential of producing high concentrations of airborne pollen is defined as the 'potential pollinosis area'. However, the detailed dynamics of pollen dispersion are not fully understood. Further, studies on the detailed dynamics of the pollen-generating environment are limited. This study aimed to determine the relationship between the dynamics of potential pollinosis areas and annual meteorological factors with high spatiotemporal resolution. We visualised and analysed the dynamics of the potential polliosis area based on 11-year high-spatial-density observation data for the atmospheric concentrations of Cryptomeria japonica pollen. The results showed that the potential pollinosis area headed northeast with repeated expansion and contraction, while the centre of the potential pollinosis area leaped to the north in mid-March. The variance in the fluctuation of the coordinates for the potential pollinosis area before the northward leap was strongly related to the variance in the relative humidity of the previous year. These results indicated that the pollen grains of C. japonica across Japan are distributed based on the meteorological conditions of the previous year until mid-March, after which, the pollen grains are distributed through flowering synchrony. Our results suggest that daily nationwide flowering synchrony has a significant annual impact, and changes in relative humidity caused by, for example, global warming would affect the occurrence and predictability of seasonal changes in the pollen dispersion dynamics of C. japonica and other pollen-producing species. Our study showed that pollen production by C. japonica through flowering synchrony is a major cause of nationwide pollinosis and other allergy-related health problems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The author has no conflict of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) are one of the most important managed pollinators of agricultural crops. While potential effects of agricultural pesticides on honey bee health have been investigated in some settings, risks to honey bees associated with exposures occurring in the plant nursery setting have received little attention. We sought to identify and quantify pesticide levels present in honey bee-collected pollen harvested in two ornamental plant nurseries (i.e., Nursery A and Nursery B) in Connecticut. From June to September 2018, pollen was collected weekly from 8 colonies using bottom-mounted pollen traps. Fifty-five unique pesticides (including related metabolites) were detected: 24 insecticides, 20 fungicides, and 11 herbicides. Some of the pesticide contaminants detected in the pollen had not been applied by the nurseries, indicating that the honey bee colonies did not exclusively forage on pollen at their respective nursery. The average number of pesticides per sample was similar at both nurseries (i.e., 12.9 at Nursery A and 14.2 at Nursery B). To estimate the potential risk posed to honey bees from these samples, we utilized the USEPA's BeeREX tool to calculate risk quotients (RQs) for each pesticide within each sample. The median aggregate RQ for nurse bees was 0.003 at both nurseries, well below the acute risk level of concern (LOC) of ≥0.4. We also calculated RQs for larvae due to their increased sensitivity to certain pesticides. In total, 6 samples had larval RQs above the LOC (0.45-2.51), resulting from the organophosphate insecticide diazinon. Since 2015, the frequency and amount of diazinon detected in pollen increased at one of our study locations, potentially due to pressure to reduce the use of neonicotinoid insecticides. Overall, these data highlight the importance of considering all life stages when estimating potential risk to honey bee colonies from pesticide exposure., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The intensity of birch pollen season is expressed by seasonal pollen integral (SPIn, the sum of the mean daily pollen concentration during the birch pollination period) and the amount of Bet v 1 allergen released per birch pollen grain expressed by pollen allergen potency (PAP). Betula pollen and Bet v 1 allergen were simultaneously measured in the air of Bratislava from 2019 to 2022 by using two Burkard traps (Hirst-type and cyclone) in order to evaluate the causes of the seasonal variation in the SPIn and PAP levels. The highest SPIn (19,975 pollen/m 3 ) was observed in 2022 and the lowest one (1484 pollen/m 3 ) in 2021. The average daily PAP level (4.0 pg Bet v 1/pollen) was highest in 2019 and lowest (2.5 pg Bet v 1/pollen) in 2020. We found that seasonal variation in SPIn was associated mainly with the changes in environmental conditions during the pre-season period, whereas the year-to-year variation in PAP levels was attributed to environmental conditions during both pre- and in-season periods. Our results indicate that rainy weather in June 2020 and cold overcast weather in January‒February 2021 resulted in low SPIn in 2021. On the other hand, dry weather in June 2021 and warm weather in January‒February 2022 resulted in high SPIn in 2022. The low average daily PAP level in 2020 was associated with (1) low levels of gaseous air pollutants in March, when the ripening of pollen takes place; (2) an earlier start of the birch main pollen season (MPS); and (3) dry weather during the MPS. On the other hand, high PAP level in 2019 was associated with higher levels of air pollutants in March and during the MPS., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Bee pollen (BP) and royal jelly (RJ) have shown therapeutic effects against colitis, but the functional components contained therein remain elusive. Here, we used an integrated microbiomic-metabolomic strategy to clarify the mechanism by which bee pollen lipid extracts (BPL) and royal jelly lipid extracts (RJL) ameliorated dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice. Lipidomic results showed that levels of ceramide (Cer), lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC), phosphatidylcholine (PC), and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) were significantly higher in BPL than in RJL. The anti-inflammatory efficacy of BPL surpassed that of RJL, although both BPL and RJL could attenuate DSS-induced colitis through several mechanisms: reducing the disease activity index (DAI); decreasing histopathological damage; inhibiting the expression of genes encoding proinflammatory cytokines; improving intestinal microbial community structure, and modulating host metabolism. These findings demonstrated that BPL and RJL have great potential as functional ingredients for the production of dietary supplements to prevent early colitis., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Determining the levels of agrochemicals, such as pesticides, that honey bees are exposed to is critical for understanding what stress factors may be contributing to colony declines. Although several pesticide detection methods are available for honey, limited work has been conducted to adapt these methods for pollen. Here, we address this gap by modifying the Dutch mini-Luke extraction method (NL method) for pesticide analysis in honey and pollen from throughout the island of Ireland. The NL method was modified to enable detection in small-sized samples and validated for both pollen and honey matrices. The modified NL method combined with liquid and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry gave consistent results in terms of accuracy and precision measured by recovery experiments and was successfully applied in the analysis of a range of pesticide residues. The modified NL method developed here provides a key tool for detecting pesticides in honey bee colony resources and the environment more broadly.

Oral drug delivery of microparticles demonstrates shortcomings like aggregation, decreased loading capacity and batch-to-batch variation, which limits its scale-up. Later, porous structures gained attention because of their large surface-to-volume ratio, high loading capacity and ability to carry biomacromolecules, which undergo degradation in GIT. But there are pitfalls like non-uniform particle size distribution, the impact of porogen properties, and harsh chemicals. To circumvent these drawbacks, natural carriers like pollen are explored in drug delivery, which withstands harsh environments. This property helps to subdue the acid-sensitive drug in GIT. It shows uniform particle size distribution within the species. On the other side, they contain phytoconstituents like flavonoids and polysaccharides, which possess various pharmacological applications. Therefore, pollen has the capability as a carrier system and therapeutic agent. This review focuses on pollen's microstructure, composition and utility in cancer management. The extraction strategies, characterisation techniques and chemical structure of sporopollenin exine capsule, its use in the oral delivery of antineoplastic drugs, and emerging cancer treatments like photothermal therapy, immunotherapy and microrobots have been highlighted. We have mentioned a note on the anticancer activity of pollen extract. Further, we have summarised the regulatory perspective, bottlenecks and way forward associated with pollen., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Melissopalynological and chemical analysis of honey provide us useful and valuable information about the botanical and geographical origin of honey. The data in question is very important for authentication as well as for testing the quality of honey, so this is considered the main method in honey regulation here, we have used chemical analysis and melissopalynology to evaluate different honey samples from two main Iranian hubs of honey. Sampling was carried out on two important poles in Iran's honey production, the central Alborz region, and the mountainous Zagros ecosystems in the years 2020 to 2021. Therefore, 52 samples from Alborz (Northern Iran), as well as 42 samples from the Zagrosian ecosystems (western Iran) belonging to different ecological habitats, were collected. In addition, samples were taken at 7 altitudes from 0 to 3500 m a.s.l. Furthermore, in this study, various chemical analyses such as the effect of antioxidant activity, the amount of total phenolic content, pH, and moisture content of honey samples were evaluated. Our results showed that all honey samples were classified as polyfloral honey. Based on our findings, 57 honey samples (61%) contained the standard amount of pollen. A total of 42 plant families and 55 genera were identified in the studied samples, with the highest presence of Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Rosaceae, Apocynaceae, and Apiaceae. Finally, an antioxidant activity ratio of 19% to 98%, total phenolic content from 0.08 to 0.51 ppm, pH from 1.90 to 5.21, and moisture content from 13% to 18.40%., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no competing interests., (Copyright: © 2023 Shakoori et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The aim of the study was to compare the nutritional value and bioactivity of honey enriched with a 10% addition of natural bee bread and its substitutes obtained as a result of laboratory fermentation of bee pollen. Physicochemical parameters, antioxidant properties, as well as the bioaccessibility of proteins using an in vitro static digestion model were analyzed. The bioactivity of the obtained enriched honeys was tested using the yeast model. The research indicates the similarity of honeys with the addition of "artificial bee bread" to honey with natural ones. During in vitro digestion, good bioaccessibility of the protein from the tested products was demonstrated. The ability of the products to protect yeast cells against hydrogen superoxide-induced oxidative stress was demonstrated using a qualitative spot test, which was stronger in the case of enriched honey than in pure rapeseed control honey. Significant inhibition of the growth of both strains of yeast exposed to bee pollen-enriched honeys was also demonstrated. Furthermore, all tested samples showed significant genoprotective activity against the genotoxic effect of zeocin and the reduction of the number of DNA double-strand breaks by a minimum of 70% was observed.

Grass pollen is a leading cause of allergy in many countries, particularly Europe. Although many elements of grass pollen production and dispersal are quite well researched, gaps still remain around the grass species that are predominant in the air and which of those are most likely to trigger allergy. In this comprehensive review we isolate the species aspect in grass pollen allergy by exploring the interdisciplinary interdependencies between plant ecology, public health, aerobiology, reproductive phenology and molecular ecology. We further identify current research gaps and provide open ended questions and recommendations for future research in an effort to focus the research community to develop novel strategies to combat grass pollen allergy. We emphasise the role of separating temperate and subtropical grasses, identified through divergence in evolutionary history, climate adaptations and flowering times. However, allergen cross-reactivity and the degree of IgE connectivity in sufferers between the two groups remains an area of active research. The importance of future research to identify allergen homology through biomolecular similarity and the connection to species taxonomy and practical implications of this to allergenicity is further emphasised. We also discuss the relevance of eDNA and molecular ecological techniques (DNA metabarcoding, qPCR and ELISA) as important tools in quantifying the connection between the biosphere with the atmosphere. By gaining more understanding of the connection between species-specific atmospheric eDNA and flowering phenology we will further elucidate the importance of species in releasing grass pollen and allergens to the atmosphere and their individual role in grass pollen allergy., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they do not have any inappropriate financial or personal relationships that would bias or influence the research in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Bee pollen (BP) and bee bread (BB) have been often investigated as potential functional foods. Both bee products are generally characterized by their high nutritional content, with BB being referred as more digestible than BP, however, there is a lack of scientific studies proving this claim. Here, we present a comparative evaluation of the macronutrient digestibility of BP and BB after applying a simulated in vitro gastrointestinal digestive system, together with the evaluation of its nutritional value and chemical composition. The digestibility scores for protein content were calculated on average as 69% and 76% for BP and BB, respectively, whereas digestibility scores for soluble sugars varied depending on bee product and sugar type. The results demonstrated that the nutritional values of both bee products changed depending on their botanical origin but BB is more accessible in the intestinal lumen, especially regarding protein., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Miguel Vilas-Boas reports financial support was provided by Foundation for Science and Technology. Volkan Aylanc reports financial support was provided by Foundation for Science and Technology. Soraia I. Falcao reports financial support was provided by Foundation for Science and Technology. Miguel Vilas-Boas reports financial support was provided by Programa Apícola Nacional 2020–2022 (National Beekeeping Program). Miguel Vilas-Boas reports financial support was provided by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Compared to many environmental risk factors, the relationship between pollen and asthma is understudied, including how associations may differ by pollen type and between subgroups, and how associations may be changing over time., Objectives: We evaluated the association between ambient pollen concentrations and emergency department (ED) visits for asthma and wheeze in Atlanta, Georgia during 1993-2018. We estimated overall associations for 13 individual pollen taxa, as well as associations by decade, race, age (5-17, 18-64, 65+), and insurance status (Medicaid vs non-Medicaid)., Methods: Speciated pollen data were acquired from Atlanta Allergy & Asthma, a nationally certified pollen counting station. ED visit data were obtained from individual hospitals and from the Georgia Hospital Association. We performed time-series analyses using quasi-Poisson distributed lag models, with primary analyses assessing 3-day (lag 0-2 days) pollen levels. Models controlled for day of week, holidays, air temperature, month, year, and month-by-year interactions., Results: From 1993 to 2018, there were 686,259 ED visits for asthma and wheeze in the dataset, and the number of ED visits increased over time. We observed positive associations of asthma and wheeze ED visits with nine of the 13 pollen taxa: trees (maple, birch, pine, oak, willow, sycamore, and mulberry), two weeds (nettle and pigweed), and grasses. Rate ratios indicated 1-8% increases in asthma and wheeze ED visits per standard deviation increases in pollen. In general, we observed stronger associations in the earliest period (1993-2000), in younger people, and in Black patients; however, results varied by pollen taxa., Conclusions: Some, but not all, types of pollen are associated with increased ED visits for asthma/wheeze. Associations are generally higher in Black and younger patients and appear to have decreased over time., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Non-allergenic, low molecular weight components of pollen grains are suspected to trigger changes in gut functions, sometimes leading to inflammatory conditions. Based on extensive neuroimmune communication in the gut wall, we investigated the effects of aqueous pollen extracts (APE) on enteric and spinal sensory neurons., Methods: Using Ca 2+ and fast potentiometric imaging, we recorded the responses of guinea-pig and human submucous and guinea-pig dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons to microejection of low (<3 kDa) and high (≥3 kDa) molecular weight APEs of birch, ragweed, and hazel. Histamine was determined pharmacologically and by mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)., Key Results: Birch APE <3kDa evoked strong [Ca +2 ] i signals in the vast majority of guinea-pig DRG neurons, and in guinea-pig and human enteric neurons. The effect of birch APE ≥3kDa was much weaker. Fast neuroimaging in human enteric neurons revealed an instantaneous spike discharge after microejection of birch, ragweed, and hazel APE <3kDa [median (interquartile range) at 7.0 Hz (6.2/9.8), 5.7 Hz (4.4/7.1), and 8.4 Hz (4.3/12.5), respectively]. The percentage of responding neurons per ganglion were similar [birch 40.0% (33.3/100.0), ragweed 50.8% (34.4/85.6), and hazel 83.3% (57.1/100.0)]. A mixture of histamine receptor (H1-H3) blockers significantly reduced nerve activation evoked by birch and ragweed APEs <3kDa , but was ineffective on hazel. Histamine concentrations in ragweed, birch and hazel APE's < 3 kDa were 0.764, 0.047, and 0.013 μM, respectively., Conclusions: Allergen-free APEs from birch, ragweed, and hazel evoked strong nerve activation. Altered nerve-immune signaling as a result of severe pollen exposure could be a pathophysiological feature of allergic and non-allergic gut inflammation., (© 2023 The Authors. Neurogastroenterology & Motility published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Characterizing pollen release and dispersion processes is fundamental for knowledge advancement in ecological, agricultural and public health disciplines. Understanding pollen dispersion from grass communities is especially relevant due to their high species-specific allergenicity and heterogeneously distributed source areas. Here, we aimed to address questions concerning fine level heterogeneity in grass pollen release and dispersion processes, with a focus on characterizing the taxonomic composition of airborne grass pollen over the grass flowering season using eDNA and molecular ecology methods. High resolution grass pollen concentrations were compared between three microscale sites (<300 m apart) in a rural area in Worcestershire, UK. The grass pollen was modelled with local meteorology in a MANOVA (Multivariate ANOVA) approach to investigate factors relevant to pollen release and dispersion. Simultaneously, airborne pollen was sequenced using Illumina MySeq for metabarcoding, analysed against a reference database with all UK grasses using the R packages DADA2 and phyloseq to calculate Shannon's Diversity Index (α-diversity). The flowering phenology of a local Festuca rubra population was observed. We found that grass pollen concentrations varied on a microscale level, likely attributed to local topography and the dispersion distance of pollen from flowering grasses in local source areas. Six genera (Agrostis, Alopecurus, Arrhenatherum, Holcus, Lolium and Poa) dominated the pollen season, comprising on average 77 % of the relative abundance of grass species reads. Temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity, turbulence and wind speeds were found to be relevant for grass pollen release and dispersion processes. An isolated flowering Festuca rubra population contributed almost 40 % of the relative pollen abundance adjacent to the nearby sampler, but only contributed 1 % to samplers situated 300 m away. This suggests that most emitted grass pollen has limited dispersion distance and our results show substantial variation in airborne grass species composition over short geographical scales., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they do not have any inappropriate financial or personal relationships that would bias or influence the research in this paper., (Crown Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Access to abundant and diverse floral plant sources is essential for generalist bees as they obtain all energy and nutrients required from pollen and nectar. Despite their importance, we still know little about the precise nutritional requirements of most bee species. Here, we investigated differences in floral and amino acid profiles of pollen collected by five bumblebee species in southern Germany, which had access to the same spectrum of plant species and thus sources of nutrition. We found that different bumblebee species visited different floral spectra for pollen collection but nevertheless had highly similar pollen amino acid profiles. This finding suggests that common bumblebee species only slightly differ in their nutritional target for amino acids in pollen. In fact, floral and chemical composition of pollen loads appear to be largely determined by the plant community present at a site as bumblebees attempt to maximize site-specific nutrient collection efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultivation of mass flowering entomophilous crops benefits from the presence of managed and wild pollinators, who visit flowers to forage on pollen and nectar. However, management of these crops typically includes application of pesticides, the presence of which may pose a hazard for pollinators foraging in an agricultural environment. To determine the levels of potential exposure to pesticides, their presence and concentration in pollen and nectar need assessing, both within and beyond the target crop plants. We selected ten pesticide compounds and one metabolite and analysed their occurrence in a crop (Brassica napus) and a wild plant (Rubus fruticosus agg.), which was flowering in field edges. Nectar and pollen from both plants were collected from five spring and five winter sown B. napus fields in Ireland, and were tested for pesticide residues, using QuEChERS and Liquid Chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Pesticide residues were detected in plant pollen and nectar of both plants. Most detections were from fields with no recorded application of the respective compounds in that year, but higher concentrations were observed in recently treated fields. Overall, more residues were detected in B. napus pollen and nectar than in the wild plant, and B. napus pollen had the highest mean concentration of residues. All matrices were contaminated with at least three compounds, and the most frequently detected compounds were fungicides. The most common compound mixture was comprised of the fungicides azoxystrobin, boscalid, and the neonicotinoid insecticide clothianidin, which was not recently applied on the fields. Our results indicate that persistent compounds like the neonicotinoids, should be continuously monitored for their presence and fate in the field environment. The toxicological evaluation of the compound mixtures identified in the present study should be performed, to determine their impacts on foraging insects that may be exposed to them., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Bee bread is a valuable product obtained from the hive on a relatively small scale, while bee pollen is more easily available. Therefore, an effective laboratory method of converting pollen into a bee bread substitute is desired. The aim of the research was to verify the influence of selected factors (temperature, ultrasound) on the quality of obtained product using Lactobacillus rhamnosus inoculum. The composition of the fermented pollen was analyzed using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES), Raman spectroscopy, and SDS-PAGE and compared to natural bee bread and the original pollen. In vitro biological activity was assessed as antioxidant activity using a yeast model (BY4741 and sod1∆ strains). Fermentation of pollen occurred spontaneously and after inoculation, as demonstrated by lower pH and higher lactic acid content. Raman spectroscopy and ICP-OES confirmed changes in composition compared to the initial pollen. Compared to bee bread, the fermented pollen showed a higher content of polyphenols and comparable antioxidant activity; moreover, it accelerated yeast growth rate. In addition, a protective effect was observed for Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase 1 ( sod1∆ yeast mutant exposed to hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress). The higher fermentation temperature (25 °C) produces a more bee-bread-like product, while the use of ultrasound and starter culture seems to have no positive effect.

In this study, soluble dietary fibers (SDFs) were extracted from rape bee pollen using four methods including acid extraction (AC), alkali extraction (AL), cellulase extraction (CL) and complex enzyme extraction (CE). The effects of different extraction methods on the structure of SDFs and in vitro fermentation characteristics were further investigated. The results showed that the four extraction methods significantly affected the monosaccharide composition molar ratio, molecular weight, surface microstructure and phenolic compounds content, but showed little effect on the typical functional groups and crystal structure. In addition, all SDFs decreased the Firmicutes / Bacteroidota ratio, promoted the growth of beneficial bacteria such as Bacteroides , Parabacteroides and Phascolarctobacterium , inhibited the growth of pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia-Shigella , and increased the total short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) concentrations by 1.63-2.45 times, suggesting that the bee pollen SDFs had a positive regulation on gut microbiota. Notably, the SDF obtained by CE exhibited the largest molecular weight, a relatively loose structure, higher extraction yield and phenolic compounds content and the highest SCFA concentration. Overall, our results indicated that CE was an appropriate extraction method of high-quality bee pollen SDF.

One gram-negative strain designated Bb-Pol-6  T was isolated from birch (Betula pendula) pollen at Giessen area, Germany. The analysis of 16S rRNA gene-based phylogenies indicated the next-relative genera were Robbsia, Chitinasiproducens, Pararobbsia and Paraburkholderia (96-95.6%). Further comparative genome analysis and phylogenetic tree-based methods revealed its phylogenetic position under the genus Robbsia. The genome of strain Bb-Pol-6  T was 5.04 Mbp with 4401 predicted coding sequences and a G + C content of 65.31 mol%. Average amino acid identity, average nucleotide identity, digital DNA-DNA hybridization and percentage of conserved proteins values to Robbsia andropogonis DSM 9511  T were 68.0, 72.5, 22.7 and 65.85%, respectively. Strain Bb-Pol-6  T was rod-shaped, non-motile, facultative anaerobic and grew optimally at 28 °C and pH 6-7. Ubiquinone 8 was the major respiratory quinone and the major cellular fatty acids were C 16:0 , C 19:0 cyclo ω7c, C 17:0 cyclo ω7c and C 17:1 ω6c. The dominant polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and an unidentified aminophospholipid. Based on the genomic physiological and phenotypic characteristics, strain Bb-Pol-6  T was considered a novel species under the genus Robbsia, for which the name Robbsia betulipollinis sp. nov. was proposed. The type strain is Bb-Pol-6  T (= LMG 32774  T  = DSM 114812  T )., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Residues detected in pollen collected by honey bees are often used to estimate pesticide exposure in ecotoxicological studies. However, for a more accurate assessment of pesticides effect on foraging pollinators, residues found directly on flowers are a more realistic exposure approximation. We conducted a multi-residue analysis of pesticides on pollen and nectar of melon flowers collected from five fields. The cumulative chronic oral exposure Risk Index (RI) was calculated for Apis mellifera, Bombus terrestris and Osmia bicornis to multiple pesticides. However, this index could underestimate the risk since sublethal or synergistic effects are not considered. Therefore, a mixture containing three of the most frequently detected pesticides in our study was tested for synergistic impact on B. terrestris micro-colonies through a chronic oral toxicity test. According to the result, pollen and nectar samples contained numerous pesticide residues, including nine insecticides, nine fungicides, and one herbicide. Eleven of those were not applied by farmers during the crop season, revealing that melon agroecosystems may be pesticide contaminated environments. The primary contributor to the chronic RI was imidacloprid and O. bircornis is at greatest risk for lethality resulting from chronic oral exposure at these sites. In the bumblebee micro-colony bioassay, dietary exposure to acetamiprid, chlorpyrifos and oxamyl at residue level concentration, showed no effects on worker mortality, drone production or drone size and no synergies were detected when pesticide mixtures were evaluated. In conclusion, our findings have significant implications for improving pesticide risk assessment schemes to guarantee pollinator conservation. In particular, bee pesticide risk assessment should not be limited to acute exposure effects to isolated active ingredients in honey bees. Instead, risk assessments should consider the long-term pesticide exposure effects in both pollen and nectar on a range of bees that reflect the diversity of natural ecosystems and the synergistic potential among pesticide formulations., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Due to their distinct characteristics and possible uses in a variety of disciplines, nanoparticles have attracted a lot of attention recently. One area of interest is the synthesis of nanoparticles using natural sources such as bee pollen. The research aims to evaluate the usability of bee pollen extract-based magnesium nanoparticles (MgNPs). First, a palynological study was used to determine the plant source of bee pollen. The nanoparticle was characterized using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results revealed cubic-shaped MgNPs with an average size range of 36-40 nm. Afterward, nanoparticles were evaluated for their antioxidant, antimicrobial, and neurotoxic properties. It was determined that the total antioxidant capacity, phenolic (TPC), flavonoid (TFC) content, DPPH radical scavenging, and antimicrobial activity of the nanoparticles were lower than pollen extract. At the same time, nanoparticles have less toxicity than bee pollen., (© 2023 Wiley-VHCA AG, Zurich, Switzerland.)

As a common food processing technology, microbial fermentation is becoming increasingly popular to promote the bioactivity of materials. This study aims to enhance rape bee pollen bioactivity through fermentation and trace the potential components associated with its bioactivity. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of unfermented bee pollen and fermented bee pollen were evaluated, and their correlation with differential metabolites was analyzed. The results indicated that fermentation significantly (p < 0.05) improved the antioxidant (>2.3-fold) and anti-inflammatory (>1.36-fold) activities of bee pollen, and increased the contents of total phenolics and flavonoids by 1.99 and 1.53 folds. Moreover, the correlation analysis results indicated that 15 components, including three phenolamides, one flavonoid aglycone, seven fatty acids, three amino acids and one ketone compound, were positively correlated with bee pollen antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. These results suggest that fermentation is a promising approach to increase the bioactivity of bee pollen., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Pollen allergies affect a significant proportion of the global population, and this is expected to worsen in years to come. There is demand for the development of automated pollen monitoring systems. Low-cost Optical Particle Counters (OPCs) measure particulate matter and have attractive advantages of real-time high time resolution data and affordable costs. This study asks whether low-cost OPC sensors can be used for meaningful monitoring of airborne pollen. We employ a variety of methods, including supervised machine learning techniques, to construct pollen proxies from hourly-average OPC data and evaluate their performance, holding out 40 % of observations to test the proxies. The most successful methods are supervised machine learning Neural Network (NN) and Random Forest (RF) methods, trained from pollen concentrations collected from a Hirst-type sampler. These perform significantly better than using a simple particle size-filtered proxy or a Positive Matrix Factorisation (PMF) source apportionment pollen proxy. Twelve NN and RF models were developed to construct a pollen proxy, each varying by model type, input features and target variable. The results show that such models can construct useful information on pollen from OPC data. The best metrics achieved (Spearman correlation coefficient = 0.85, coefficient of determination = 0.67) were for the NN model constructing a Poaceae (grass) pollen proxy, based on particle size information, temperature, and relative humidity. Ability to distinguish high pollen events was evaluated using F1 Scores, a score reflecting the fraction of true positives with respect to false positives and false negatives, with promising results (F1 ≤ 0.83). Model-constructed proxies demonstrated the ability to follow monthly and diurnal trends in pollen. We discuss the suitability of OPCs for monitoring pollen and offer advice for future progress. We demonstrate an attractive alternative for automated pollen monitoring that could provide valuable and timely information to the benefit of pollen allergy sufferers., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

An analytical platform for the detection of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) in honey, pollen, teas, herbal infusions, and dietary supplements is proposed; it includes a wide-scope suspect screening method, based on a diagnostic product ion filtering strategy for the characterization of PAs, and a target screening and identification method for the high-throughput detection of 118 PAs of a high-resolution mass spectral library. Salting-out assisted liquid-liquid extraction of aqueous extracts combined to ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry was employed. The limit of identification (0.6-30 µg kg -1 ) of 28 standards were fit-for-purpose in PA-monitoring applications, with a false negative rate <1.3 % at 4 µg L -1 . The wide-scope suspect screening method allowed the tentative identification of 88 compounds. The screening of 282 commercial samples revealed a broad contamination of the studied matrices, demonstrating the effectiveness of the platform in detecting and identifying both target and untarget PAs., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Spores and pollens refer to the reproductive cells of seed plants and asexually reproducing sporophytes, exhibiting a natural core-shell structure and exquisite surface morphology. They possess extraordinary dimensional homogeneity, porosity, amphiphilicity and adhesion. Their sporopollenin exine layer endows them with chemically stable, UV resistant, and biocompatible properties, which can also be facilely functionalized due to sufficient groups on the surface. The unique characteristics of spores and pollens have facilitated a wide range of applications in drug carriers, biological imaging, food science, microrobotics, environmental purification, flexible electronics, cell scaffolds, 3D printing materials and biological detection. This review showcases the common structural composition and physicochemical properties of spores and pollens, describes the extraction and processing methods, and summarizes the recent research on their applications in various fields. Following these sections, this review analyzes the existing challenges in spores and pollen research and provides a future outlook.

Widespread contamination of ecosystems with pesticides threatens non-target organisms. However, the extent to which life-history traits affect pesticide exposure and resulting risk in different landscape contexts remains poorly understood. We address this for bees across an agricultural land-use gradient based on pesticide assays of pollen and nectar collected by Apis mellifera, Bombus terrestris and Osmia bicornis, representing extensive, intermediate and limited foraging traits. We found that extensive foragers (A. mellifera) experienced the highest pesticide risk-additive toxicity-weighted concentrations. However, only intermediate (B. terrestris) and limited foragers (O. bicornis) responded to landscape context-experiencing lower pesticide risk with less agricultural land. Pesticide risk correlated among bee species and between food sources and was greatest in A. mellifera-collected pollen-useful information for future postapproval pesticide monitoring. We provide foraging trait- and landscape-dependent information on the occurrence, concentration and identity of pesticides that bees encounter to estimate pesticide risk, which is necessary for more realistic risk assessment and essential information for tracking policy goals to reduce pesticide risk., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Honeybee pollen (HBP) is a mixture of floral pollen collected by honeybees near the hive. It is characterized by a composition rich in phenolic compounds, carotenoids and vitamins that act as free radicals scavengers, conferring antioxidant and antibacterial capacity to the matrix. These bioactive properties are related to the botanical origin of the honeybee pollen. Honeybee pollen samples were collected from different geographical locations in central Chile, and their total carotenoid content, polyphenols profile by HPLC/MS/MS, DPPH radical scavenging capacity, and antimicrobial capacity against S. pyogenes, E. coli, S. aureus, and P. auriginosa strains were evaluated. Our results showed a good carotenoids content and polyphenols composition, while antioxidant capacity presented values between 0-95 % for the scavenging effect related to the botanical origin of the samples. Inhibition diameter for the different strains presented less variability among the samples, Furthermore, binary mixtures representing the two most abundant species in each HBP were prepared to assess the synergy effect of the floral pollen (FP) present in the samples. Data shows an antagonist effect was observed when assessing the carotenoid content, and a synergy effect often presents for antimicrobial and antioxidant capacity for bee pollen samples. The bioactive capacities of the honeybee pollen and their synergy effect could apply to develop new functional ingredients for the food industry., (© 2023 Wiley-VHCA AG, Zurich, Switzerland.)

Better processing techniques must be utilized widely due to the rising demand for honey. The most common honey processing techniques are applied to melissopalynomorphs to check the quality and quantity of valuable honey using microporous ultrafiltration membranes. It is essential to have the ability to selectively filter out sugars from honey using ultrafiltration. This study authenticated 24 honey samples using membrane reactors ultrafiltration protocol to describe the pollen spectrum of dominant vegetation. The purpose of this study was also to explore nutritional benefits as well as the active phytochemical constituents of honey samples. Honey samples were collected and labeled Acacia, Eucalyptus, and Ziziphus species based on plant resources provided by local beekeepers. A variety of honeybee flora was collected around the apiaries between 2020 and 2021. Honey analysis revealed that the pollen extraction of 24 bee foraging species belonging to 14 families. The honey membrane technology verified the identities of honey and nectar sources. Also, pollen identified using honey ultrafiltration membranes revealed dominant resources: Acacia spp. (69%), Eucalyptus spp. (52%) and Ziziphus spp. Honey filtration using a membrane technology classified 14 samples as unifloral, represented by six dominant pollen types. The absolute pollen count in the honey sample revealed that 58.33% (n = 14) belong to Maurizio's class I. Scanning ultrasculpturing showed diverse exine patterns: reticulate, psilate, scabrate-verrucate, scabrate-gemmate, granulate, perforate, microechinate, microreticulate, and regulate to fossulate for correct identification of honey pollen types. Honey ultrafiltration should be utilized to validate the botanical sources of honey and trace their biogeographic authenticity. Thus, it is imperative to look at the alternative useful method to identify the botanical origin of filtered honey. It is critical to separate honey from adulteration by a standardized protocol. Membrane technology has yielded significant outcomes in the purification of honey., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The use of neonicotinoid insecticides in agriculture has posed threats to ecological systems, and there is a need to assess the ecological risks of neonicotinoids from emission to nontarget organisms. We introduced a modeling approach to assess the ecological risks of neonicotinoids using honeybee and earthworm as model organisms, and the simulation was flexible under different environmental conditions. Using the cotton plant as an example, the simulation results demonstrated that under current recommended application rates, the use of common neonicotinoid insecticides posed no threat to earthworms, with the simulated risk quotients (RQs) much lower than 1. However, the simulation for some neonicotinoid insecticides (e.g., acetamiprid) indicated that using these insecticides on cotton plants could threaten honeybees, with simulated RQs higher than 1. The variability analysis showed that in high-latitude regions, the unacceptable risk to honeybees posed by insecticide application can be further elevated due to cold, wet weather that results in relatively high insecticide levels in pollen and nectar. The model evaluation showed large overlaps of simulated risk intervals between the proposed and existing (BeeREX) models. Because the proposed and existing models have different simulation mechanisms, we recommend that these two models be used together to complement each other in future studies. Environ Toxicol Chem 2023;42:928-938. © 2023 SETAC., (© 2023 SETAC.)

Pesticides can be found in beehives for several reasons, including contamination from surrounding crops or for their use by beekeepers, which poses a risk to bee ecosystems and consumers. Therefore, efficient and sensitive methods are needed for determining pesticide residues in bee products. In this study, a new analytical method has been developed and validated to determine seven acaricides (atrazine, chlorpyrifos, chlorfenvinphos, α-endosulfan, bromopropylate, coumaphos, and τ-fluvalinate) in bee pollen using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. After an optimization study, the best sample treatment was obtained when using a modified QuEChERS (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe) method employing an ethyl acetate and cyclohexane as the extractant mixture, and a mixture of salts for the clean-up step. A chromatographic analysis (<21 min) was performed in an Agilent DB-5MS column, and it was operated under programmed temperature conditions. The method was fully validated in terms of selectivity, limits of detection (0.2-3.1 µg kg -1 ) and quantification (0.6-9.7 µg kg -1 ), linearity, matrix effect (<20% in all cases), trueness (recoveries between 80% and 108%), and precision. Finally, the proposed method was applied to analyze commercial bee pollen samples, and some of the target pesticides (chlorfenvinphos, α-endosulfan, coumaphos, and τ-fluvalinate) were detected.

The aim of this study is to develop a rapid, effect-directed screening method for quality assessment of bee pollen-honey mixtures. The comparative antioxidant potential and phenolic content of honey, bee pollen, and the bee pollen-honey mixtures, was performed using spectrophotometry. The total phenolic content and antioxidative activity of bee pollen-honey mixtures with 20 % bee pollen share were in the range 3.03-3.11 mg GAE/g, and 6.02-6.96 mmol TE/kg, respectively, while mixtures with 30 % bee pollen share contained 3.92-4.18 mg GAE/g, and 9.69-10.11 mmol TE/kg. Chromatographic fingerprint of bee pollen-honey mixtures was performed by high-performance thin-layer chromatography with conditions developed by authors and reported for the first time. Fingerprint analysis hyphenated with chemometrics enabled authenticity assessments of honey in mixtures. Results indicate that bee pollen-honey mixtures represent a food with highly, both, nutritious characteristics and health-promoting effect., (© 2023 Wiley-VHCA AG, Zurich, Switzerland.)