This readme file was generated on [2025-08-28] by [SOPHIE DODD]

GENERAL INFORMATION

Title of Dataset: Tracing the botanical origins of UK heather honey by relative quantification of plant DNA

Author 
Name: Sophie Dodd
ORCID: 0000-0001-9805-4477
Institution & Theme: Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Environment and Agrifood 
Address: Cranfield University, College Road, Cranfield, MK43 0AL. 
Email: sophie.dodd@cranfield.ac.uk

Author
Name: Zoltan Kevei 
ORCID: 0000-0002-3065-3198
Institution & Theme: Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Environment and Agrifood 
Address: Cranfield University, College Road, Cranfield, MK43 0AL. 
Email: z.l.kevei@cranfield.ac.uk

Author*
Name: Maria Anastasiadi 
ORCID: 0000-0001-7871-5514
Institution & Theme: Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Environment and Agrifood 
Address: Cranfield University, College Road, Cranfield, MK43 0AL. 
Email: m.anastasiadi@cranfield.ac.uk 

*corresponding author 

Date of data collection: 2021 - 2025 

Geographic location of data collection: Cranfield University, College Road, Cranfield, MK43 0AL, UK. 

Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data: This research was funded by UKRI BBSRC FoodBioSystems Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP), grant number BB/T008776/1.

SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION

Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4:0 International Licence 

Links to publications that cite or use the data: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-025-00561-1 

Recommended citation for this dataset: Dodd, S., Kevei, Z., Karimi, Z., Suresh Kumar, J.J., Koidis, A., & Anastasiadi, M. (2025). Tracing the botanical origins of UK heather honey by relative quantification of plant DNA. npj Science of Food. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-025-00561-1.  

DATA & FILE OVERVIEW

File List: 

a.honey_Cq_RQ_DODD2025.csv :a dataset containing qPCR amplification (Cq value) for all honey samples, relative quantification calculation and the resulting class group. 

b.BLAST_ling_DODD2025.pdf :complete in silico analysis of the Calluna vulgaris marker using PrimerBLAST. 

c.BLAST_bell_DODD2025.pdf :complete in silico analysis of the Erica cinerea marker using PrimerBLAST. 


METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION

Description of methods used for collection/generation of data: Methodological details can be accessed at the published paper: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-025-00561-1

Methods for processing the data: Data processing included automatic baseline correction and relative quantification, details are provided in the published paper: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-025-00561-1

Environmental/experimental conditions: Experiment conditions can be accessed at the published paper: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-025-00561-1

Describe any quality-assurance procedures performed on the data: Reactions were performed in triplicate with positive and negative controls in each assay

People involved with sample collection, processing, analysis and/or submission: Sophie Dodd, Zoltan Kevei, Zahra Karimi, Jane Jennifer Suresh Kumar, Anastasios Koidis, Maria Anastasiadi


DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: [a.honey_Cq_RQ_DODD2025.csv]

Number of variables: 15

Number of cases/rows: 271

Variable List: The Cq values from reaction 1-3 for trnL_P6 marker, The Cq values from reaction 1-3 for CV_trnL marker, The Cq values from reaction 1-3 for EC_trnL marker, The relative quantity (RQ) of ling, The relative quantity (RQ) of bell, The standard deviation (SD) of RQ of ling, The SD of RQ of bell, the final class of ling, the final class of bell. 

Missing data codes: na: not amplified, N/A: not applicable 

Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: ling: Calluna vulgaris plant, bell: Erica cinerea plant, final class calculated according to RQ value for ling or bell (dominant: > 0.45, secondary: 0.16 – 0.45, important minor: 0.03 – 0.16, trace: 0.03 – 0.01, sporadic: 0.01 – 0.001 and none: <0.001)