35-2 |
Use of genomics and proteomics in meat science |
A. L. PHILLIPS and Y. L. Xiong. Dept. of Animal Sciences, Univ. of Kentucky, 207 W.P. Garrigus Bldg., Lexington, KY 40546 The animal industry has long used genetic selection to produce meat animals with desirable growth characteristics and carcass traits. The use of metabolic agents is also shown to alter carcass composition and meat quality. More recently, transgenic animals are produced to improve feed-efficiency, carcass yield, and lean tissue. However, many of the genome-based production strategies lead to an inferior meat quality, e.g., color, tenderness, and water-binding ability (pork, beef, and poultry), indicating a need to understand the molecular mechanism underlying the quality changes. For example, the pale, soft, exudative condition in pork has been linked to two genes (Hal and RN), but the widespread quality defect cannot be fully accounted for by the two particular genes. Likewise, variations in beef tenderness even from animals of the same genetic background cannot be fully explained with genomic information. Proteomics, on the other hand, offers a powerful tool to identify the specific gene products that may be involved in and indicative of meat quality alterations. Furthermore, the 2-D gel electrophoresis, coupled with mass spectrometry, allows the identification and characterization of marker proteins and enzymes, as well as the specific levels, that are expressed in certain individual animals or those produced under different conditions. The proteomic technique also lends itself to the study of meat quality changes associated with postmortem aging and those induced by the interaction of muscle proteins with lipids, carbohydrates, and other meat components. This presentation will give an overview of potential uses of proteomics in muscle food research, and describe how the information derived could be utilized to guide genetic research for producing meat animals with not only improved growth and carcass characteristics but also consistently high meat qualities.
Session 35, Applications of proteomics to food science
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