Thursday 9th of October we will receive the visit of Pr. Sebastien Floquet, from Institut Lavoisier de Versailles, Université Paris-Saclay.
He will give a talk on the « Use of Molybdenum complexes for the safeguard of the honeybees: from the beaker to the market.» it will be at 11 am, at ENS, in room R.
Use of Molybdenum complexes for the safeguard of the honeybees: from the beaker to the market.
Prof. Sébastien Floquet
Institut Lavoisier de Versailles, Université Paris-Saclay, UVSQ, CNRS, UMR 8180, 78000 Versailles, France.
Oligofeed SAS, Ferme du Moulon, 91190 Gif sur Yvette, France
sebastien.floquet@uvsq.fr
Bees are experiencing a worrying decline around the world. Beyond this decline, 20,000 species of plants are also affected by their disappearance and nearly 40% of our diet. Molybdenum is an essential trace element for life. Found in over fifty enzymes, Mo plays an important role in plants and in animals. For several years we are developing molecular complexes based on Mo for applications in biology.[1,2] In particular, very simple coordination complexes have proved to be very active in beekeeping[3-5]. Non-toxic, these molecules allow improving the honey bee health, enhance their productivity and decrease their mortality, especially in winter. A first part of this talk will be focused on the the effects obersved for one complex in beehives in different countries and different environment but in real operating conditions for professional beekeepers. A second part will be dedicated to understanding of the role played by these complexes within the bees’ organism, thanks to many techniques such as ICP-MS, X-Ray Fluorescence experiments performed on Synchrotron SOLEIL or XPS studies.
Localization of molybdenum within the head of a bee fed with a Mo-complex
[1] A. Fuior, A. Hijazi, O. Garbuz, V. Bulimaga, L. Zosim, D. Cebotari, M. Haouas, I. Toderas, A. Gulea and S. Floquet, Journal of Inorg. Biochem., 2022, 226, 111627.
[2] A. Fuior, D. Cebotari, M. Haouas, J. Marrot, G. Minguez Espallargas, V. Guérineau, D. Touboul, R. Rusnac, A. Gulea and S. Floquet, ACS Omega, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.2c00705
[3] A. Fuior, S. Floquet, V. Cebotari, D. Cebotari, A. Gulea, I. Toderas. « Food supplement based on molybdenum for bees ». European patent EP4185594B1 (delivered on 04 dec. 2024). In progress for USA, Canada, Argentina, and China.
[4] A. Fuior et al. Feed supplementation with molybdenum complexes improves honey bee health. Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers 2025 https://doi.org/10.1039/D5QI00878F
[5] Benito-Murcia et al., Reducing Honey Bee Winter Mortality with Molybdenum Supplementation: Field Evidence Across Europe. 2025. Under revision for Reseach in Veterinary Science. Preprint sur BioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.07.23.666091