Phytochemical profiles of honey bees (Apis mellifera) and their larvae differ from the composition of their pollen diet

Pollen and nectar consumed by honeybees contain plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) with vital roles in plant-insect interactions. While PSMs can be toxic to bees, they can also be health-promoting, e.g., by improving pesticide and pathogen tolerances. As xenobiotics, PSMs undergo post-ingestion chemical modifications that can affect their bioactivity and transmission to the brood. Despite the importance of understanding honeybee PSM metabolism and distribution for elucidating bioactivity mechanisms, these aspects remain largely unexplored. In this study, we used HPLC-MS/MS to profile 47 pollen PSMs in honeybees and larvae. Both adult bees and larvae had distinct PSM profiles that differed from their diet. This is likely due to post-ingestion metabolism and compound-dependent variations in PSM transmission to the brood via nurse bee jelly. Phenolic acids and flavonoid aglycones were most abundant in bees and larvae, whereas alkaloids, cyanogenic glycosides, and diterpenoids had the lowes..., , , # Phytochemical profiles of honey bees (*Apis mellifera*) and their larvae differ from the composition of their pollen diet.

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.83bk3j9w3](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.83bk3j9w3)

This dataset contains the raw data files from the targeted analyses of a series of plant secondary metabolites in pollen as well as adult honey bees and their larvae that consumed the pollen in controlled feeding experiments. Details about the extraction, HPLC-MS/MS analyses (data recorded in multiple reaction monitoring mode (MRM)) and results can be found in the manuscript.

## Description of the data and file structure

The dataset is included in the file: LC-MS-Data_Vidkjaer_rsos231654.zip. Each file contains data for multiple samples.

**Explanation of columns in the metadata file (Metadata_Vidkjaer_rsos231654.xlsx):**

**Sample:** Short description of the sample material.

**Sample ID:** ID of the sample in the data file from the instrument included in LC-MS-Data_Vidkjaer_rs...,