Pollen DNA metabarcoding identifies regional provenance and high plant diversity in Australian honey

Accurate identification of the botanical components of honey can be used to establish its geographical provenance, while also providing insights into honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) diet and foraging preferences. DNA metabarcoding has been demonstrated as a robust method to identify plant species from pollen and pollen‐based products, including honey. We investigated the use of pollen metabarcoding to identify the floral sources and local foraging preferences of honeybees using 15 honey samples from six bioregions from eastern and western Australia. We used two plant metabarcoding markers, ITS2 and the trnL P6 loop. Both markers combined identified a total of 55 plant families, 67 genera, and 43 species. The trnL P6 loop marker provided significantly higher detection of taxa, detecting an average of 15.6 taxa per sample, compared to 4.6 with ITS2. Most honeys were dominated by Eucalyptus and other Myrtaceae species, with a few honeys dominated by Macadamia (Proteaceae) and Fabaceae. Metabarcoding detected the nominal primary source provided by beekeepers among the top five most abundant taxa for 85% of samples. We found that eastern and western honeys could be clearly differentiated by their floral composition, and clustered into bioregions with the trnL marker. Comparison with previous results obtained from melissopalynology shows that metabarcoding can detect similar numbers of plant families and genera, but provides significantly higher resolution at species level. Our results show that pollen DNA metabarcoding is a powerful and robust method for detecting honey provenance and examining the diet of honeybees. This is particularly relevant for hives foraging on the unique and diverse flora of the Australian continent, with the potential to be used as a novel monitoring tool for honeybee floral resources.
We used pollen DNA metabarcoding to identify the botanical content of 15 honey samples from six Australian biogeographical regions. We sequenced ITS2 and trnL P6 loop, which in combination identified 55 plant families, 67 genera, and 43 species. The trnL marker was able to differentiate between eastern and western Australian honeys and cluster samples into biogeographical regions. ​