Breast meat fatty acid profiling and proteomic analysis of Beijing-You chicken during the laying period

Authors: ZHANG, JIAN - Beijing Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; Zhuang, Hong; CAO, JING - Beijing Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; GENG, AILIAN - Beijing Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; WANG, HAIHONG - Beijing Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; CHU, QIN - Beijing Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; YAN, ZHIXUN - Beijing Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; ZHANG, XIAOYUE - Beijing Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; ZHANG, YAO - Beijing Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; LIU, HUAGUI - Beijing Academy Of Agricultural Sciences

Submitted to: Frontiers in Veterinary Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/9/2022
Publication Date: 6/15/2022
Citation: Zhang, J., Zhuang, H., Cao, J., Geng, A., Wang, H., Chu, Q., Yan, Z., Zhang, X., Zhang, Y., Liu, H. 2022. Breast meat fatty acid profiling and proteomic analysis of Beijing-You chicken during the laying period. Frontiers in Veterinary Science. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.908862.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.908862

Interpretive Summary: Fatty acid (FA) composition has been associated with not only meat quality, but also human health. In meat, the FA composition plays a key role in the texture, color, flavor, and oxidative stability. Poultry is the second most-consumed meat worldwide and relatively affordable in most countries. Poultry meat provides the human with the essential polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially the n-3 FAs. Hence, there has been interest in identifying the FA profiles and exploring the mechanism of the FA modulating in poultry meat as an alternative source of n-3 FA in the replacement of sea food in recent years. The objective of the present study was to provide insight into the molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying fatty acid profiles in a slow-growing chicken during the laying period. Our results showed that increasing chicken ages resulted in increased contents of both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in breast meat. Protein analyses revealed a total of 4935 proteins in chicken breast muscle. Six hundred and sixty-four of them were differentially expressed during the laying period. Among 664 proteins, 410 were up- and 116 were down-regulated when the protein profile in 150d old birds were compared that in 300d old birds; 32 were up- and 20 down-regulated when 150d birds were compared with 450d birds; and 72 up- and 241 down-regulated when 300d birds were compared with 450d birds. Gene analysis exhibited that a total of 57 among the 664 different expressed proteins were related to FA/lipid-related metabolisms, including both FA synthesis (metabolism, desaturation, and elongation) and the regulation of FA/lipid metabolism. These results demonstrated that FA are actively regulated in chicken breast meat during laying period.

Technical Abstract: The disparity in fatty acids (FA) composition exhibits a significant impact on meat quality, however, the molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying this trait in chicken are far from clear. In this study, a total of 45 female Beijing-You chicken (BYC) hens, fed on the same diet, were collected at the slaughter age of 150, 300, or 450 days (D150, D300, and D450) from sexual maturation stage to culling stage (15 birds per age). Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and tandem mass tag labeling technology based on liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (TMT-LC-MS/MS) analysis strategies were applied to profile FA compositions and to compare differential expressed proteins (DEPs) between these different slaughter ages, respectively. The FA profiling showed that increasing hen ages resulted in increased contents of both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. Proteomic analyses showed a total of 4935 proteins in chicken breast muscle with the false discovery rate (FDR) < 1% and 664 of them were differentially expressed (fold change > 1.50 or < 0.67 and P < 0.01). There were 410 up- and 116 down-regulated proteins in D150 vs. D300 group, 32 up- and 20 down-regulated in D150 vs. D450 group, and 72 up- and 241 down-regulated in D300 vs. D450 group. A total of 57 DEPs related to FA/lipid-related metabolisms were obtained according to the enrichment analysis of Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). These DEPs were involved in 21 significantly enriched (P < 0.05) pathways, including well-known pathways for FA synthesis (metabolism, desaturation, and elongation) and the signaling pathways for lipid metabolism (PPAR, adipocytokine, calcium, VEGF, MAPK, and Wnt). In addition, there existed several representative DEPs (FABP, FABP3, apoA-', apoA-IV, apoC-', apoB, VTG1, and VTG2) involved in the regulation of FA/lipid transportation. The construction of the interaction networks indicated that HADH, ACAA2, HADHA, ACSL1, CD36, CPT1A, PPP3R1, and SPHK1 were the key core nodes. Finally, eight DEPs were quantified using parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) to validate the results from TMT analysis. These results expanded our understanding of how the laying age affects the FA compositions and metabolism in hen breast meat.