Proteomic investigations of beef tenderness
Résumé
For the whole beef sector, from producers to consumers, the uncontrolled variability of beef tenderness is a major concern. For 10 years, functional genomics and proteomics studies have been conducted to better understand the origin of this variability and to identify protein biomarkers that can be used to predict the tenderness of a piece of meat at slaughter or of a live animal. This chapter provides a comprehensive review on beef tenderness as provided by proteomics. Proteins representative of the major biological functions, heat shock proteins, energy metabolism, oxidative stress, structural proteins, proteolysis, transport, signaling, and apoptosis, are described. The new knowledge thus produced are presented and discussed.