The characterization of major proteins of honeybee larval jelly (49-87 kDa) was performed by the sequencing of new complementary DNAs (cDNAs) obtained from a honeybee head cDNA library, by the determination of N-terminal sequences of the proteins, and by analyses of the newly obtained and known sequence data concerning the proteins. It was found that royal jelly (RJ) and worker jelly (WJ) contain identical major proteins and that all the proteins belong to one protein family designated MRJP (from Major Royal Jelly Proteins). The family consists of five main members (MRJP1, MRJP2, MRJP3, MRJP4, MRJP5). The proteins MRJP3 and MRJP5 are polymorphic. MRJPs account for 82 to 90% of total larval jelly protein, and they contain a relatively high amount of essential amino acids. These findings support the idea that MRJPs play an important role in honeybee nutrition.

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Varroa bee hive attack is a serious and common problem in bee keeping. In our work, an ectomicroflora of Varroa destructor mites was characterised as a potential source of bacterial bee diseases. Using a cultivation approach, a variable population of bacteria was isolated from the body surface of Varroa mites with frequency of about 150 cfu per mite individual. Nine studied isolates were classified to four genera and six species by a combination of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF)-and 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA)-based methods, suggesting relatively low diversity of Varroa mite-associated ecto-microflora. The Varroa mite-associated bacterial population was found to be dominated by Gram-positive bacteria of Bacillus and Microbacterium genera. Gram-negative bacteria were represented by members of Brevundimonas and Rhizobium genera. Most of the identified species are not known to be associated with Varroa mite, either honey bee or honey up until now and some of them are probably representatives of new bacterial taxa. Varroa destructor / ecto-microflora / heterotrophic bacteria / Microbacterium

Waste disposal sites from non-ferrous metal industry constitute environments very hostile for life due to the presence of very specialized abiotic factors (pH, salt concentration, heavy metals content). In our experiments microflora of two waste disposal sites in Slovakia – brown mud disposal site from aluminium production near Ziar nad Hronom and nickel sludge disposal site near Sered - was analyzed for cultivable bacteria. Isolated bacteria were characterized by a combination of classical microbiological approaches and molecular methods and the most of isolated bacteria shown a poly-extremotolerant phenotype. The most frequently halotolerant (resistant to the high level of salt concentrations) and alkalitolerant (resistant to the high pH level) bacteria belonging to the Actinobacteria class were detected. The most of bacteria shown very high level of heavy metal resistance e.g. more than 500 μg/ml for Zn2+ or Cu2+. Based on our data, waste disposal sites thus on one side represents an important environmental burden but on other side they are a source of new poly-extremotolerant bacterial strains and species possibly used in many biotechnology and bioremediation applications.