Honey produced by the Australian honeypot ant (Camponotus inflatus) is valued nutritionally and medicinally by Indigenous peoples. In a new study, scientists at the University of Sydney found honeypot ant honey to have strong total activity against Staphylococcus aureus but not against other bacteria, and strong activity against two species of fungi: Cryptococcus and Aspergillus. When compared with therapeutic-grade jarrah and manuka honey produced by honeybees, they found honeypot ant honey to have a markedly different antimicrobial activity and chemical properties, suggesting honeypot ant honey has a unique mode of antimicrobial action.
Australian honeypot ants (Camponotus inflatus) are found throughout the central desert region of Australia. Image credit: Danny Ulrich.
Honey has been utilised since ancient times as a traditional remedy against various ailments.
In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in the use of natural products such as honey as antimicrobials, in large part due to the growing crisis of antimicrobial resistance.
While the vast majority of honey in the world is produced by the European honeybee (Apis mellifera), many other insects collect, process, and store nectar in the form of honey.
This includes stingless bees, bumblebees, the Mexican honey wasp (Brachygastra mellifica), and various honeypot ant species. One such example is the Australian honeypot ant.
“As a rare source of natural sugar in an arid environment, honeypot ants are highly prized as a bush food by Indigenous Australians and have a long history of nutritional and cultural significance,” said University of Sydney researcher Andrew Dong and colleagues.
“The Honey Ant Dreaming site is located in Central Australia and is shared by all Indigenous groups in the area.”
“For these groups, the honeypot ant represents their Dreaming or Tjukurpa, the Aboriginal philosophy based on the spiritual interrelation of people and things.”
“In addition to their use as a food source, there are records of honeypot ant honey being used to treat sore throats and colds.”
In their study, the authors investigated the chemical properties of honey from Australian honeypot ants and studied its activity against a panel of bacterial and fungal pathogens.
They also profiled the bacterial and fungal microbiome of these ants, which are found throughout desert areas mainly in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Among their colonies are a class of overfed workers that are stuffed with nectar and sugary substances by other worker ants, causing their abdomens to inflate with honey and take on a translucent, amber appearance.
These ants effectively become immobile vending machines for their colony, regurgitating honey when other food options are scarce.
“For our people, honey ants are more than just a food source,” said Danny Ulrich from the Tjupan language group, who helped the researchers track down specimens for their study.
“Digging for them is a very enjoyable way of life, and a way of bringing the family together.”
“Our people have been enjoying sweet honey ants for thousands of years.”
“As for its medicinal use, we use it for sore throats and sometimes as a topical ointment to help keep infections at bay.”
“I have long been fascinated by the honeypot ant and its amazing way of producing and storing honey,” Dong added.
“Given the medicinal use of the honey by Indigenous people, I wondered if it might have unique antimicrobial characteristics.”
The scientists confirmed that honeypot ant honey has a quite different mechanism of action compared with manuka honey, which is well established as a topical treatment for wounds and skin infections.
“Our research shows that honeypot ant honey possesses a distinctive effect that sets it apart from other types of honey,” said University of Sydney’s Dr. Kenya Fernandes.
“This discovery means that honeypot ant honey could contain compounds with substantial antimicrobial power; identifying these could provide us with starting points for developing new and different types of antibiotics.”
The researchers found honeypot ant honey is effective against Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium commonly known as golden staph.
They also found honeypot ant honey is potent against two species of fungi, Aspergillus and Cryptococcus.
“Our study demonstrates that honeypot ant honey has unique antimicrobial characteristics that validate its therapeutic use by Indigenous peoples,” said University of Sydney’s Professor Dee Carter.
“Taking something that has been honed by evolution to work in nature and then applying this to human health is a great way to come up with therapeutic strategies.”
The findings were published in the journal PeerJ.
_____
A.Z. Dong et al. 2023. Unique antimicrobial activity in honey from the Australian honeypot ant (Camponotus inflatus). PeerJ 11: e15645; doi: 10.7717/peerj.15645
