A proteomic approach to identify biomarkers of foal meat quality: A focus on tenderness, color and intramuscular fat traits

Abstract

La carne de potro se considera una alternativa saludable frente a otras fuentes de carne y más sostenible desde el punto de vista ambiental. Sin embargo, su calidad es muy variable y existe una falta de conocimiento sobre los mecanismos moleculares que determinan dicha calidad. El genotipo y la dieta desempeñan un papel relevante como los principales factores que permiten controlar la calidad final, y el uso de métodos analíticos de alta resolución, como la proteómica, es una vía para alcanzar este ambicioso objetivo. Esta investigación tuvo como objetivo estudiar dos razas (Burguete y Jaca Navarra) suplementadas con dos dietas de acabado diferentes: concentrado convencional y paja (C) frente a ensilado y pienso ecológico (S). El enfoque proteómico construyó una biblioteca de 294 proteínas que fueron sometidas a diversos análisis estadísticos y bioinformáticos. La raza Burguete terminada con concentrado produjo una carne de mayor calidad en términos de terneza, grasa intramuscular y luminosidad del color, principalmente debido a la alta abundancia de proteínas del metabolismo energético. La terneza se correlacionó con proteínas miofibrilares (ACTA1, MYBPH, MYL1 y TNNC1) y proteínas del metabolismo energético (ALDOA, CKM, TPI1).

Foal meat is considered a healthy alternative to other meat sources and more environmentally sustainable. However, its quality is highly variable and there is lack of knowledge about the molecular mechanisms underlying its determination. Genotype and diet play a relevant role as the main factors that can allow a control of the final quality and the use of high-throughput analytical methods such as proteomics is a way to achieve this lofty goal. This research aimed to study-two breeds (Burguete and Jaca Navarra) supplemented with two different finishing diets: conventional concentrate and straw (C) vs silage and organic feed (S). The proteomic approach built a library of 294 proteins that were subjected to several statistical and bioinformatic analyses. Burguete breed finished with concentrate produced higher meat quality in terms of tenderness, intramuscular fat and color lightness mainly due to the high abundance of energy metabolic proteins. Tenderness was correlated to myofibrillar proteins (ACTA1, MYBPH, MYL1 and TNNC1) and energy metabolic proteins (ALDOA, CKM, TPI1 and PGMA2). Regarding color, the main pathways were energy metabolism, involving several glycolytic enzymes (ALDOA, PKM, PFKM and CKM). Oxidative stress and response to stress proteins (HSPA1A, SOD2 and PRDX2) were further involved in color variation. Moreover, we revealed that several proteins were related to the intramuscular fat accordingly to the breed. This study proposed several candidate protein biomarkers for foal meat quality that are worthy to evaluate in the future.