Ground breaking analysis has led to the publication of the world’s* most robust set of beef tenderness biomarkers and major molecular signatures of beef tenderness arising from research led by Dr. Mohammed Gagaoua, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Career-FIT Fellow at the Food Quality and Sensory Science department at Teagasc, Ashtown.
Many large omics datasets, especially proteomics, have been generated in the quest to identify molecular signatures for meat tenderness which in turn will lead to the development of a management system for guaranteed beef tenderness. Due to variations in experimental approaches e.g. cattle type, age at slaughter etc in generating these datasets, there is a need for a holistic and integrative study (integromics). An integromics approach is one which integrates and interrogates large and complex datasets. Employing an integromics approach, Dr Gagaoua’s publication is the first of its kind and has provided clarity on the most consistently and robustly identified biomarkers of beef tenderness. It gathers data from 28 independent proteomics-based experiments from which a comprehensive list of 124 biomarkers were initially identified. From these, the authors shortlisted a panel of 33 robust candidates worthy of evaluation using targeted or untargeted data-independent acquisition proteomic methods to develop future predictive tools. Furthermore, this research, as well as revealing the main molecular signatures, has also provided key insights into the interconnectedness among various pathways and processes in the muscle which are pivotal in producing high quality beef.
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