Identification of potential peptide markers for the shelf-life of Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) during anhydrous preservation via mass spectrometry-based peptidomics

Abstract

The shelf-life of live oysters is a quality-concerned issue along with the supply chain of the products. In present study, mass spectrometry-based peptidomics has been employed to investigate changes of endogenous peptides of Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) occurred during anhydrous preservation with the purpose of discovering shelf-life indicators of live oysters. Samples of Crassostrea gigas harvested freshly were acclimated to laboratory environment first and then put under defined anhydrous preservation conditions (being packaged in sterile plastic bags and stored at 4 ± 1 °C in low-temperature incubators). After regular intervals, samples were randomly collected for peptidomics analysis using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole/time-of-flight mass spectrometry and potential peptide markers were mined by chemometric tools and verified by a multi-reaction monitoring method with ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. Approximately 8526 peptides, in total, were characterized and 4 endogenous peptides, SSSTGEVGTYSGTTN, TARNEANVNI, VGIIKGSSSEEA, and TARNEANVNIY, were finally proposed as potential markers for shelf-life evaluating. The proposed markers were applied to real-life samples and expected trends of the markers during anhydrous preservation were observed, implying applicability of the endogenous peptides for shelf-life evaluating. The findings of this study provide favorable evidences of mass spectrometry-based peptidomics in quality assessing for aquaculture products.