Abstract
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are small molecules that contribute to the distinctive flavour of cheese which is an important attribute for consumer acceptability. To investigate whether cow’s genetic background might contribute to cheese volatilome, we carried out genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and pathway–based analyses for 173 spectrometric peaks tentatively associated with several VOCs obtained from proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS) analyses of 1,075 model cheeses produced using raw whole-milk from Brown Swiss cows. Overall, we detected 186 SNPs associated with 120 traits, several of which mapped close to genes involved in protein (e.g. CSN3, GNRHR and FAM169A), fat (e.g. AGPAT3, SCD5, and GPAM) and carbohydrate (e.g. B3GNT2, B4GALT1, and PHKB) metabolism. Gene set enrichment analysis showed that pathways connected with proteolysis/amino acid metabolism (purine and nitrogen metabolism) as well as fat metabolism (long-term potentiation) and mammary gland function (tight junction) were overrepresented. Our results provide the first evidence of a putative link between cow’s genes and cheese flavour and offer new insights into the role of potential candidate loci and the biological functions contributing to the cheese volatilome.
Highlights
Cheese quality depends on many related, interacting factors, ranging from compositional, functional, sensory and safety characteristics to nutritional, psychological, convenience, processing and economic factors[1]
The aim of this study, was i) to perform Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) analyses for milk and cheese composition traits in dairy cows, and for cheese Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) profiles determined by proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS), and ii) to carry out pathway analyses on the SNP markers, in order to identify genomic regions and biological mechanisms that contribute to the variability in cheese volatilome
Results of the GWAS analyses of milk and cheese composition and cheese VOCs are summarised in Table 3 and Supplementary Table S1
Summary
Cheese quality depends on many related, interacting factors, ranging from compositional, functional, sensory and safety characteristics to nutritional, psychological, convenience, processing and economic factors[1]. Several factors (e.g. dairy system, herd, individual cow characteristics) have been shown to affect the cheese volatilome[9,10] and evidence for the existence of an exploitable genetic variation in the cheese VOC profile has recently been put forward[11], suggesting there is potential to modify cheese flavour through selective breeding in order to improve cheese quality. There is no existing information on whether there is a relationship between the cow’s genome and the cheese VOC profile, nor on the biological functions that may be involved in regulating the cheese volatilome. The aim of this study, was i) to perform GWAS analyses for milk and cheese composition traits in dairy cows, and for cheese VOC profiles determined by proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS), and ii) to carry out pathway analyses on the SNP markers, in order to identify genomic regions and biological mechanisms that contribute to the variability in cheese volatilome
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