Venom
Venom may be collected without causing any harm to the bees. To date it is of limited use to humans but immunologists use it to attempt to reduce a person's allergic response to bee stings.
It may be collected by putting a device consisting of a piece of glass, capable of accepting a small electrical charge, over a base plate. It is manufactured as the Abeeco Bee Venom Mask.
The resultant venom crystallises and is scraped off the glass into a dark container.
With a large amount of bee venom discernible to local hives this may result in a lot of very angry bees and may change the temperament of your colonies. Do not use it in urban areas. Label jars with the contents and date collected. A warning such as "Danger. Do not open" would be advisable as the crystalline form of this venom may be lethal to a susceptible person. Venom must be kept in a dark jar as it degrades if subject to light.
The Abeeco company in New Zealand sell a wide range of cosmetics, many containing bee venom. It's possible that the regulatory authorities in the UK and USA would be stringent on allowing these products on to the market.
It may be collected by putting a device consisting of a piece of glass, capable of accepting a small electrical charge, over a base plate. It is manufactured as the Abeeco Bee Venom Mask.
The resultant venom crystallises and is scraped off the glass into a dark container.
With a large amount of bee venom discernible to local hives this may result in a lot of very angry bees and may change the temperament of your colonies. Do not use it in urban areas. Label jars with the contents and date collected. A warning such as "Danger. Do not open" would be advisable as the crystalline form of this venom may be lethal to a susceptible person. Venom must be kept in a dark jar as it degrades if subject to light.
The Abeeco company in New Zealand sell a wide range of cosmetics, many containing bee venom. It's possible that the regulatory authorities in the UK and USA would be stringent on allowing these products on to the market.
info@scientificbeekeeping.co.uk
Scientific Beekeeping
Scientific Beekeeping
info@scientificbeekeeping.co.uk
CONSTITUENTS OF VENOM
In it's natrual form venom is 88% water. It has a ph of 4.5 - 5.5 which makes it acidic. It is water soluable.
In it's natrual form venom is 88% water. It has a ph of 4.5 - 5.5 which makes it acidic. It is water soluable.
DRIED BEE VENOM ANALYSIS
Shipolini, in 1986 analysed the venom from Apis mellifera. The link to the left gives the full results.
In 2014 Vaerenbergh et al in their paper "Exploring the hidden honeybee (Apis mellifera) venom proteome by integrating a combinatorial peptide ligand library approach with FTMS" established that there are many more components of bee venom". The abstract reads:
Shipolini, in 1986 analysed the venom from Apis mellifera. The link to the left gives the full results.
In 2014 Vaerenbergh et al in their paper "Exploring the hidden honeybee (Apis mellifera) venom proteome by integrating a combinatorial peptide ligand library approach with FTMS" established that there are many more components of bee venom". The abstract reads:
" At present, 30 compounds have been described in the venom of the honeybee, and 16 of them were confirmed by mass spectrometry. Previous studies typically combined 2-D PAGE with MALDI-TOF/TOF MS, a technology which now appears to lack sensitivity to detect additional venom compounds. Here, we report an in-depth study of the honeybee venom proteome using a combinatorial peptide ligand library sample pretreatment to enrich for minor components followed by shotgun LC-FT-ICR MS analysis. This strategy revealed an unexpectedly rich venom composition: in total 102 proteins and peptides were found, with 83 of them never described in bee venom samples before. Based on their predicted function and subcellular location, the proteins could be divided into two groups. A group of 33 putative toxins is proposed to contribute to venom activity by exerting toxic functions or by playing a role in social immunity. The other group, considered as venom trace molecules, appears to be secreted for their functions in the extracellular space, or is unintentionally secreted by the venom gland cells due to insufficient protein recycling or co-secretion with other compounds. In conclusion, our approach allowed to explore the hidden honeybee venom proteome and extended the list of potential venom allergens. This study dug deeper into the complex honeybee venom proteome than ever before by applying a highly performing sample pretreatment and mass spectrometric technology. We present putative biological functions for all identified compounds, largely extending our knowledge of the venom toxicity. In addition, this study offers a long list of potential new venom allergens."
I have been unable to find an open source website that provides this paper free of charge. However, in a paper published in 2015 ( left) a full list of the componets of apis mellifera sting venom is available as an excel file from the supplementary material: