Biomarkers can predict pork quality

By Niels Oksbjerg, University of Aarhus

 

A group of scientists under the leadership of Prof. Niels Oksbjerg from Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Aarhus, presented on the Q-PorkChains Workshop in Copenhagen some of their most important results from their studies so far in module V using new biology as a tool for control o pork quality.

 

Promising results

The results showed, that large variation in meat quality traits were obtained in both experiments and combined with omics technologies this gave rise to several proteomic peaks and transcripts that can be used as biomarkers to predict meat quality.

 

At the same time proteomic peaks can be used to study the effect of stress and resting time on meat quality traits. The transcriptomics results are also Biomarkers can predict pork quality very promising for development of biomarkers to predict meat quality and to better understand the genetic background affecting pork quality.

 

Finally, metabonomics indicated that plasma lactate may be a simple marker for water holding capacity.

 

Description of experiments

The objectives of these studies are to identify markers of different meat quality traits on the basis of different breeds and rearing conditions as well as stress-induced differences in meat quality. Biological markers related to meat quality traits are investigated at gene, protein, and metabolite levels by the use of omics technologies such as microarray, proteomics, and NMR-based metabonomics, and analyzed using bioinformatics tools.

 

In experiment 1, ten litters of four female pigs were allocated to four treatment groups according to litter: control without stress exposure or treadmill exercise for approximately 30 min. The exercise was followed by either 0, 1, or 3 hours rest before slaughter. Muscle biopsy samples from M. longissimus dorsi (LD) and M. biceps femoris (BF) and blood samples were taken at the time of sticking and after 24 h samples were analysed for various meat quality traits, proteomics and microarray.

 

In experiment 2, 50 pigs: 20 Large White (LW) and 30 Basque (B) finishing castrated boars were used in the experiment. From each breed, 10 pigs were reared in a conventional (slatted floor, 1.0 m²/pig) system, and 10 pigs Pig production in an alternative (bedding and outdoor area, 2.4 m²/pig) system. Moreover, 10 Basque pigs were reared in the extensive (free range) production system of the Basque region (south west of France). All animals were slaughtered at the average live weight of 150 kg. M. longissimus dorsi (LD) samples were taken 30 minutes after exsanguination, frozen immediately in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80° C until RNA isolation.