What is invertase?
- An enzyme specific to the bee, which converts glucose directly into honey.
- An enzyme that splits sucrose into glucose and fructose.
- A floral enzyme that makes pollen assimilable by foragers.
Show answer
Correct answer: 2.
An enzyme that splits sucrose into glucose and fructose.
Why?
Invertase is an enzyme, that is, a protein that facilitates a chemical reaction. It hydrolyses sucrose, a double sugar, into two simple sugars: glucose and fructose.
In the bee, invertase takes part in the transformation of nectar into honey. Nectar contains a variable proportion of sugars, including sucrose, which is progressively transformed during the bees’ work and the ripening of the honey.
Invertase is not specific to the bee. It is also found in other organisms, for example in certain yeasts, plants or animals.
What to understand
Honey is not simply thickened nectar. It results from a combined process: enzymatic transformation of the sugars, exchanges between bees, deposition in the cells and gradual evaporation of the water.
Invertase acts mainly on the composition of the sugars. It does not “make” honey on its own, but it contributes to transforming part of the sucrose into glucose and fructose.
This transformation is important for the properties of the honey, in particular its taste, its stability, its keeping quality and its tendency to crystallise depending on the relative proportion of glucose, fructose and water.
Key points
Invertase splits sucrose into glucose and fructose.
In the bee, it is part of the honey-ripening process, together with other enzymes and with the reduction of the water content.
It is not an enzyme exclusive to bees, but its role is central to understanding how nectar gradually becomes honey.
Further reading
► Controlling the water content of honey