Antimicrobial activity of protein extracted from Melipona Beecheii honey

Melipona beecheii honey is traditionally known as a therapeutic agent, used against diseases caused by microorganisms. Today it is known that stingless bee honey has antimicrobial activity, however, antimicrobial mechanisms of honey are not fully elucidated. Various reports indicate that compounds such as hydrogen peroxide and flavonoids and certain properties, i.e., high osmolarity and low pH, provide the antimicrobial effect. Nevertheless, recent studies have showed the presence of enzymes, proteins, and peptides, which could exhibit antimicrobial activity. Several enzymes have been reported in stingless bee honey such as diastase, amylases, glucose oxidase and proteases, these proteins could contribute to the antimicrobial activity of this honey. In this chapter antimicrobial activity of protein extracts from M. beecheii honey were evaluated against pathogenic bacteria. Electrophoretic studies of showed the presence of seven protein bands of various molecular weights (95, 55, 49, 29, 14.6, 11.5 and 7 kDa) in protein extracts of honey. These protein extracts have shown to inhibit the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholerae and Enterococcus faecalis at concentrations of less than 60 mg/mL. Results indicated that these proteins play an important role in the antimicrobial activity of Melipona beecheii honey.