Honey authentication using intrinsic DNA markers and metabolic fingerprint

蜂蜜是千百年来人类饮食中包含的一种完全天然的产品。蜂蜜在英国的受欢迎程度不断提高，但国内产量约占需求的14%。因此，每年进口4万吨蜂蜜(欧盟统计局，2015年)。受风味和健康益处的推动，对优质单花蜂蜜的需求正在增加(年增长率为5-15%)。蜂蜜缓解上呼吸道感染症状的有效性的证据进一步支持这一观点[1]。英国蜂农正在努力生产他们自己的单花蜂蜜，其中石南花蜂蜜是最重要的。希瑟蜂蜜含有丰富的植物化学物质，在健康益处方面被认为与新西兰的麦卢卡蜂蜜不相上下。然而，对石南花蜂蜜的化学成分和生物活性的研究很少。此外，石南蜂蜜的质量特征没有得到很好的界定，使得认证变得困难。确定植物来源的主要方法是蜂蜜鉴别法(花粉计数)，这需要高度专业化，而且并不总是可靠[2]。全球蜂蜜产业面临的另一个主要挑战是掺假。在欧盟(2013年)发布的一份名单中，蜂蜜是最有可能被掺假的十大食品之一。目前，蜂蜜的真实性检验还没有一种单一的方法，而且大多数检验都是耗时和昂贵的。包括光谱方法在内的现代技术已经成功地应用于其他国家的蜂蜜鉴定研究[3]。从克兰菲尔德大学生物信息学小组获得的初步结果(未发表)也突显了传感器技术在蜂蜜表征方面的前景潜力。新出现的技术还侧重于发现蜂蜜中的代谢和/或DNA生物标记物，分别使用高效液相色谱法和RT-PCR技术进行蜂蜜的植物学特征和掺假检测[3]。这种方法在麦卢卡蜂蜜的案例中取得了令人振奋的结果[4]。以前的研究已经提出了其他欧洲国家石南花蜂蜜的一些生物标记物，如脱落酸、鞣花酸和异佛尔酮5，但这些标记物并不是植物来源所特有的，不同的研究往往有所不同。还需要进一步的研究来提供一种可靠的石南蜜鉴定方法。假设：我们假设蜂蜜和花卉来源中的固有DNA标记和代谢指纹/生物标记可以与人工智能相结合，开发出同时进行植物来源鉴定和英国石南蜜掺假检测的新方法。

Honey is a completely natural product included in human diet for thousands of years. Honey's popularity in the UK is increasing continuously but domestic production covers ~14% of demand. Therefore, c40,000 tonnes of honey are imported annually (Eurostat, 2015). Demand for premium monofloral honeys is increasing (annual growth rate 5-15%) driven by flavour and perceived health benefits. Evidence on the effectiveness of honey for relieving symptoms in upper respiratory tract infections further support this view[1]. UK bee farmers are striving to produce their own monofloral honeys, with heather honey being the most important. Heather honey has rich phytochemical content and is considered comparable to New Zealand's manuka honey in terms of health benefits. However, research into the chemical composition and bioactivity of heather honey is sparse. In addition, the quality characteristics of heather honey are not well defined, making authentication difficult. The main method for botanical origin determination is melissopalinology (pollen counting) which requires high specialisation and is not always reliable[2].Another major challenge facing the honey industry worldwide is adulteration. Honey was among the top ten foods most at risk of adulteration in a list published by the EU (2013). At present, there is no single method for authenticity testing for honey and the majority of the tests are time-consuming and expensive.Modern techniques including spectroscopic methods have been applied successfully on honey authentication studies in other countries[3]. Preliminary results acquired from the Bioinformatics group at Cranfield University (unpublished) have also highlighted the promising potential of sensor technology, for honey characterisation. Newly emerging techniques have also focused on the discovery of metabolic and/or DNA biomarkers in honey using techniques such as HPLC and RT-PCR respectively for the botanical characterisation of honey and adulteration detection[3]. This approach has yielded promising results in the case of manuka honey[4]. Previous studies have proposed some biomarkers for heather honey in other European countries, such as abscisic acid, ellagic acid and isophorone5, but these markers are not unique to the botanical source and tend to differ between studies. Further research is required to deliver a reliable method for heather honey authentication. Hypothesis: We hypothesise that intrinsic DNA markers and metabolic fingerprint/biomarkers in honey and floral sources can be paired with artificial intelligence to develop novel methods for simultaneous botanical origin identification and adulteration detection in UK heather honey.