Metabolomics Analysis of Pot-Pollen from Three Species of Australian Stingless Bees (Meliponini)

Abstract

Pot-pollen from Australian stingless bees (Meliponini) was analysed for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and secondary metabolites from ethanolic extracts. Samples were harvested from multiple colonies of the species Tetragonula carbonaria (Smith), T. hockingsi (Cockerell) and Austroplebeia australis (Friese) foraging in the same geographic area and season. Comparative analyses were performed by HS-SPME-GC-MS and LC-ESI-HRMS/MS, and statistical variability was assessed by two-way ANOVA and bi-dimensional Principal Component Analysis (PCA). VOCs contain similar mono-sesqui-terpenes across samples, and three VOCs were significantly associated with the pot-pollen of the different bee species: acetic acid was associated with T. hockingsi, p-anisaldehyde with A. australis and a methanone derivative with T. carbonaria. Ethanol extracts of the pot-pollens were not significantly different across bee species and contained glycosyl-flavonoids and phenolics, including traces of secondary metabolites typical of stingless bee propolis. Findings of this work are available as open source interactive data to encourage further collaborative research on pot-pollen of the Australian Meliponini.