Beef tenderness ‘molecular signatures’ revealed in biomarker study

Ground-breaking analysis has led to the publication of the world’s most robust set of beef tenderness biomarkers and major molecular signatures.

As well as revealing the main molecular signatures contributing to beef tenderness, the research by Ireland’s Agriculture and Food Development Authority has also provided key insights into the interconnectedness among various pathways and processes in the muscle, which are pivotal in producing high quality beef.

Many large datasets had been generated in the quest to identify molecular signatures for meat tenderness, designed to lead to the development of a management system for guaranteed beef tenderness. However, due to variations in experimental approaches across the world (cattle type, age at slaughter, feed history etc) in generating these datasets, there was a need for a holistic and integrative study to integrate and interrogate large and complex datasets.

Using an ‘integromics’ approach, the work is the first of its kind and has provided clarity on the most consistently and robustly identified biomarkers for beef tenderness.

It gathered data from 28 independent experiments worldwide, initially identifying a comprehensive list of 124 biomarkers. From these, the authors shortlisted a panel of 33 robust candidates worthy of evaluation to develop future meat tenderness predictive tools.

Source : https://www.beefcentral.com/news/research-beef-tenderness-molecular-signatures-revealed-in-biomarker-study/