High resolution melting analysis of a COI mini-barcode as a simple approach for the entomological authentication of honey

Honey is highly valued for its taste, aroma, content in bioactive compounds and for being a natural food. In the European Union (EU), market demand for honey is higher than the domestic production and therefore a substantial amount of honey is imported. According to a 2014 European Parliament report on fraud in the food chain, honey was ranked as the 6th food product most prone to adulterateration.1 Up until now, honey authenticity addressed mainly sugars addition and botanical origin. However, an increased attention has recently been paid to honey entomological origin as it also relates to its geographical origin since honeybees carrying mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of distinct ancestries can be found across Europe. While in Portugal the predominant mtDNA of the autochthonous subspecies Apis mellifera iberiensis belongs to the A-lineage, when moving towards the northeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula this lineage is gradually replaced by the M-lineage. The native distribution of the M-lineage A. m. mellifera expands from the Pyrenees to Scandinavia and from the British Isles to the Ural Mountains while the C-lineage A. m. ligustica and A. m. carnica are naturally found in the Apennine and Balkan peninsulas, respectively

High resolution melting analysis of a COI mini-barcode as a simple approach for the entomological authentication of honey Artigo de Conferência