The goat Longissimus thoracis et lumborum muscle proteome: effects of dry ageing and cooking in chevon.

Serpentina chevon is a product of significant nutritional and cultural value, especially in Portugal. However, the meat of adult goats is devalued, being less appreciated compared to young kid meat. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of dry-ageing in bag and thermal processing on the proteome of Longissimus thoracis et lumborum muscle of chevon. Four females were aged for 46 days and then cooked. Proteomic analysis was carried out using label-free quantification, identifying 1264 proteins. Four comparisons were computed: aged vs non-aged meat (M vs NM), cooked aged vs cooked non-aged meat (MC vs NMC), cooked aged vs aged meat (MC vs M), and cooked non-aged vs non-aged meat (NMC vs NM). They had 3, 9, 39 and 41 differentially abundant proteins, respectively. Actin was identified as a potential indicator of ageing and cooking stability. Proteins MYL1, MYL4, MYL6B, TNNC1, TNNC2, TPM3, CA3, PVALB, COL1A1 and COL12A1 were associated with quality, being involved in actin binding, muscle contraction/regulation, and connective tissue composition. Furthermore, collagen-related proteins in MC vs M comparison suggests ageing affects meat quality. The results establish different proteins as putative meat quality indicators and demonstrate the usefulness of proteomics for studying the effect of ageing and cooking.