Abstract
This study evaluated the potential of a panel of 20 protein biomarkers, quantified by Reverse Phase Protein Array (RPPA), to explain and predict two important meat quality traits, these being beef tenderness assessed by Warner–Bratzler shear force (WBSF) and the intramuscular fat (IMF) content (also termed marbling), in a large database of 188 Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) Maine-Anjou cows. Thus, the main objective was to move forward in the progression of biomarker-discovery for beef qualities by evaluating, at the same time for the two quality traits, a list of candidate proteins so far identified by proteomics and belonging to five interconnected biological pathways: (i) energy metabolic enzymes, (ii) heat shock proteins (HSPs), (iii) oxidative stress, (iv) structural proteins and (v) cell death and protein binding. Therefore, three statistical approaches were applied, these being Pearson correlations, unsupervised learning for the clustering of WBSF and IMF into quality classes, and Partial Least Squares regressions (PLS-R) to relate the phenotypes with the 20 biomarkers. Irrespective of the statistical method and quality trait, seven biomarkers were related with both WBSF and IMF, including three small HSPs (CRYAB, HSP20 and HSP27), two metabolic enzymes from the oxidative pathway (MDH1: Malate dehydrogenase and ALDH1A1: Retinal dehydrogenase 1), the structural protein MYH1 (Myosin heavy chain-IIx) and the multifunctional protein FHL1 (four and a half LIM domains 1). Further, three more proteins were retained for tenderness whatever the statistical method, among which two were structural proteins (MYL1: Myosin light chain 1/3 and TNNT1: Troponin T, slow skeletal muscle) and one was glycolytic enzyme (ENO3: β-enolase 3). For IMF, two proteins were, in this trial, specific for marbling whatever the statistical method: TRIM72 (Tripartite motif protein 72, negative) and PRDX6 (Peroxiredoxin 6, positive). From the 20 proteins, this trial allowed us to qualify 10 and 9 proteins respectively as strongly related with beef tenderness and marbling in PDO Maine-Anjou cows.
Highlights
During the last two decades, OMICs techniques, especially proteomics, have been applied by meat scientists to understand the modifications occurring in post-mortem muscle in an attempt to explain the variation in several meat quality traits [1,2,3]
Four proteins were from the energy metabolism pathway: MDH1, enolase 3 (ENO3), Phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1) and ALDH1A1
These were followed by three small heat shock proteins: CRYAB, HSP20 and HSP27
Summary
During the last two decades, OMICs techniques, especially proteomics, have been applied by meat scientists to understand the modifications occurring in post-mortem muscle in an attempt to explain the variation in several meat quality traits [1,2,3]. Proteomics allowed the identification of putative biomarkers (for review: [4,5,6]), with the objective of predicting the potential quality and . Among the most investigated beef qualities using proteomics, tenderness has gained the most attention [11,12]. Beef tenderness is considered worldwide to be one of the most critical quality attributes for consumers and for re-purchase decisions. With beef tenderness being a multifactorial trait, it is highly variable, and is impacted by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors measurable along the continuum from farm-to-fork [13,14].
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