Control of Dimorphism in the Female Honeybee. 4. Techniques for Fractionating Royal Jelly Into its Major Components

Abstract

SummaryMethods of fractionating royal jelly into proteins, lipids and small water-soluble molecules are presented. Techniques of dialysis, of precipitating proteins with acetone, methanol or ethanol, of centrifuging out less soluble proteins and lipids, and a combination of techniques, are reported in detail. A fractionation was considered to be successful if larvae could be reared in the laboratory on a food that included all or most of the fractions recombined with each other. The proportion of each fraction obtained from whole royal jelly and the problems commonly encountered with the fractions are presented.