New Insights on the Impact of Cattle Handling on Post-Mortem Myofibrillar Muscle Proteome and Meat Tenderization

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of different cattle management strategies at farm (Intensive vs. Extensive) and during transport and lairage (mixing vs. non-mixing with unfamiliar animals) on the myofibrillar subproteome of Longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) muscle of “Asturiana de los Valles” yearling bulls. It further aimed to study the relationships with beef quality traits including pH, color, and tenderness evaluated by Warner–Bratzler shear force (WBSF). Thus, comparative proteomics of the myofibrillar fraction along meat maturation (from 2 h to 14 days post-mortem) and different quality traits were analyzed. A total of 23 protein fragments corresponding to 21 unique proteins showed significant differences among the treatments (p < 0.05) due to any of the factors considered (Farm, Transport and Lairage, and post-mortem time ageing). The proteins belong to several biological pathways including three structural proteins (MYBPC2, TNNT3, and MYL1) and one metabolic enzyme (ALDOA) that were affected by both Farm and Transport/Lairage factors. ACTA1, LDB3, and FHL2 were affected by Farm factors, while TNNI2 and MYLPF (structural proteins), PKM (metabolic enzyme), and HSPB1 (small Heat shock protein) were affected by Transport/Lairage factors. Several correlations were found between the changing proteins (PKM, ALDOA, TNNI2, TNNT3, ACTA1, MYL1, and CRYAB) and color and tenderness beef quality traits, indicating their importance in the determination of meat quality and their possible use as putative biomarkers.

Impact of Cattle Feeding Strategy on the Beef Metabolome

“…Regarding the pairwise comparison between FL and PH cattle, similarities in animal performance and carcass traits were reported by Gómez et al [ 7 ], so comparing these treatments may allow for a better understanding of the broad differences between pasture and feedlot feeding systems. Many studies have reported the differences in performance and meat quality of cattle finished in different production systems, grass or grain, including changes in muscle fiber type composition, intramuscular fat accumulation, meat tenderness, and color [ 1 , 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 35 ]. However, the molecular mechanism and pathways responsible for differences between grass and grain-fed animals are still largely unknown.…”

Distinct myofibrillar sub-proteomic profiles are associated with the instrumental texture of aged pork loin

“…A previous study found a positive correlation between pork LD Warner-Bratzler shear force and myosin light chains 1 and 2 abundance at 3 d postmortem ( Lametsch et al, 2003 ). Subsequent LC–MS/MS experiments with myofibrillar protein fractions have found troponin-T ( Liu et al, 2021 ), myosin binding protein C, myosin light chain 1/3, and myosin regulatory light chain 2 ( Sierra et al, 2021 ) to be differentially abundant based on quality or grouping in pork and beef. Two main explanations account for the observed variations in thick and thin filament proteins across groupings.…”

Fungal Biostarter Effect on the Quality of Dry-Aged Beef

“…A higher degree of MLC2 break down was found in beef aged with the M. flavus biostarter. According to Picard et al [ 44 ], Sierra et al [ 45 ], and Ding et al [ 46 ], the degree of degradation of those proteins (MLC2) is one of the indicators associated with the beef myofibrillar proteins’ effective proteolysis, particularly related to the tenderness of meat.…”