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

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.