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Microbiological investigation study for Apis mellifera yemenitica and Apis mellifera carnica bee venoms on selected bacterial strains

  • Clinical Microbiology - Research Paper
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A Correction to this article was published on 18 March 2022

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Abstract

Bees are one of the ancient and the most social insects worldwide. They are of great economic and medical importance. Bee venom (BV) has many therapeutic effects and has been used since ancient times for the treatment of many diseases. The present study aimed to evaluate and compare the antibacterial effect of BV from two different bee subspecies Apis mellifera yemenitica (A. m. yemenitica) (indigenous strain) and Apis mellifera carnica (A. m. carnica) (carniolan strain) against selected Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Experimentally, venoms were extracted using an electrical venom collector from honey bee colonies of the subspecies, A. m. yemenitica and A. m. carnica, in Hail, Saudi Arabia. Each venom was tested against selected medically important Gram-negative strains, Salmonella Typhimurium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli, while Staphylococcus aureus was selected as Gram-positive test organism. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) method was used to compare the effect of BV from the two subspecies on the growth of the selected bacterial strains. Results showed that BV from both subspecies could equally inhibit the growth of Salmonella Typhimurium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli at an MIC of 10 mg/ml. However, S. aureus was inhibited by an MIC of 5 and 10 mg/ml of BV from A. m. carnica and A. m. yemenitica, respectively. This suggested that the BV of the carnica subspecie was more inhibitory to this Gram-positive pathogen than its counterpart produced by the yemenitica subspecies. The present study shows that bee venom has a promising antibacterial effect.

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Funding

This study was supported by the Researchers Supporting Project number (RSP-2021/99), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11495, Saudi Arabia

    Reem A. Alajmi & Loloa Alfozan

  2. Cell Biology Department, National Research Center, Giza, Egypt

    Ibrahim A. H. Barakat

  3. Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Amany Mahmoud

  4. Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

    Amany Mahmoud

  5. Department of Research Office, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Ministry of National Guard, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Laila Layqah

  6. Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Hany M. Yehia

  7. Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, 44519, Egypt

    Dina M. Metwally

Authors
  1. Reem A. Alajmi
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  2. Ibrahim A. H. Barakat
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  3. Loloa Alfozan
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  4. Amany Mahmoud
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  5. Laila Layqah
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  6. Hany M. Yehia
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  7. Dina M. Metwally
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Contributions

All authors contributed in the design, interpretation of the study and analysis of the data, and review of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Reem A. Alajmi or Dina M. Metwally.

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Ethics statement

All results of this study are based on the use of honey bees (A. m. carnica and A. m. yemenitica). Neither human (human subjects or human-derived material) nor animals (vertebrates or any regulated invertebrates) were used in this experimental research. This study does not involve human subjects, human material, human data, vertebrates, or any regulated invertebrates.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Jorge Luiz Mello Sampaio

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Alajmi, R.A., Barakat, I.A.H., Alfozan, L. et al. Microbiological investigation study for Apis mellifera yemenitica and Apis mellifera carnica bee venoms on selected bacterial strains. Braz J Microbiol 53, 709–714 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-021-00656-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-021-00656-3

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