2. Academic Validation
  3. Turanose and erlose as characteristic oligosaccharides in honey: Their formation mechanism and potential application for detecting honey adulteration

Turanose and erlose as characteristic oligosaccharides in honey: Their formation mechanism and potential application for detecting honey adulteration

  • Food Chem. 2025 Sep 30:487:144784. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.144784.
Sha Yan 1,  Yuzhe Yuan 2,  Huailei Song 3,  Guodong Mu 2,  Xiaofeng Xue 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 College of Food Science and Engineering, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu 030801, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 2 State Key Laboratory of Resource Insects, Institute of Apiculture Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
  • 3 College of horticulture, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu 030801, China.
  • 4 State Key Laboratory of Resource Insects, Institute of Apiculture Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100093, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 40398220 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.144784
Abstract

Honey contains abundant oligosaccharides which play an important role in controlling honey quality. However, there have been few reports on their formation mechanism in honey. In this study, the formation mechanism of turanose and erlose was proposed by analyzing sugar composition of obtained honey samples combined with 13C labeled sucrose experiments. Sucrose as a glucosyl donor undergoes the glycosyl transferase reaction to form turanose and erlose via α-glucosidase. Glucose binding with fructose occurs isomerization to form turansoe, while glucose binds with sucrose to form erlose. High content of erlose in obtained honey samples by feeding sucrose to honeybees implied erlose can serve as a potential index to identify the adulterated honey (artificially feeding sucrose to bee colonies). Based on the absence of turanose in common syrups and naturally existing in honey, syrup-disguised or adulterated honey can be preliminarily identified. This work provides a new theoretical basis for honey quality control.

Keywords

1-kestose (PubChem CID: 440080); Adulteration identification; Erlose; Erlose (PubChem CID: 193471); Formation mechanism; Frucose (PubChem CID: 5984); Glucose (PubChem CID: 5793); Honey; Isomaltotriose (PubChem CID: 439668); Maltotriose (PubChem CID: 439586); Melezitose (PubChem CID: 92817); Panose (PubChem CID: 94448); Raffinose (PubChem CID: 439242); Sucrose (PubChem CID: 5988); Turanose; Turanose (PubChem CID: 5460935)..

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