Abstract:
Bee products are gaining increasing popularity among consumers for their high nutritional value and various biological activities. However, adulteration is becoming a prominent problem in the production and sale of bee products, and the mechanisms underlying their biological activities have not been fully elucidated. Proteomics and metabolomics can provide complete and comprehensive descriptions on the overall characteristics of proteins and small-molecular metabolites. In recent years, these two omics approaches have been widely used in the field of bee products, and become a powerful means to solve the problem of adulteration in bee products and elucidate the mechanisms underlying their biological activities. This paper reviews the research progress in the application of proteomics and metabolomics in bee products. Based on an overview of the advantages of proteomics and metabolomics in simultaneous identification of whole components and screening of characteristic markers, the paper also summarizes their applications in the identification of components, discrimination and authentication, and elucidation of mechanisms for biological activities of bee products in detail. In addition, the existing problems are analyzed and the future research directions are proposed. The paper is expected to provide a reference for extensive and in-depth application of omics technologies in the research of bee products.