DNA Barcoding for Honey Biodiversity

Abstract

Honey is produced by honeybees from nectar and from secretions of living plants. It reflects the honeybees’ diet and the local plant communities. Honey also shows different plant compositions in different geographical locations. We propose a new method for studying the plant diversity and the geographical origin of honey using a DNA barcoding approach that combines universal primers and massive parallel pyrosequencing. To test this method we use two commercial honeys, one from a regional origin and one composed of a worldwide mix of different honeys. We demonstrate that the method proposed here is fast, simple to implement, more robust than classical methods, and therefore suitable for analyzing plant diversity in honey.