Project:

Examine the Authenticity of Monofloral Honey with DNA Barcoding

Students:

Leo Hohenwarter, Haoyang Li, Zixi Luo

School:

Cold Spring Harbor Asia DNA Learning Center,

Mentors:

Xinyue Wang

Abstract:

Honey is a natural product widely consumed for its flavour and nutritional value. Monofloral honey, sourced predominantly from the nectar of a single plant species, is considered to possess distinct savory qualities and other beneficial attributes. Thus, monofloral honey often enjoys an elevated price over ordinary honey products. Consequently, this leads to the market malpractice of disguising cheaper multifloral honey as more profitable monofloral honey. It is vital to establish a reliable method of identifying the fraudulent products.Via investigating the plant rbcL gene in honey we are able to trace its exact floral origin, enabling us to determine the authenticity of the product. Our sampled monofloral honey products are believed to be sourced from black locust (robinia pseudoacacia). The floral DNA is isolated using the RNeasy Plant Test Kit and amplified via PCR, allowing us to draw comparisons with the database sequence of robinia pseudoacacia.

Poster:

Team samples: