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Profiles of muscular amino acids, fatty acids, and metabolites in Shaziling pigs of different ages and relation to meat quality

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Abstract

Pork meat is closely related to physicochemical alterations during growth and development, resulting in differences in nutritional value and meat flavor. This study aimed to evaluate the composition of amino acids, fatty acids, and metabolic profiles in the longissimus thoracis muscle (LM) of Shaziling pigs aged 30, 90, 150, 210, and 300 days. The results showed that the predominant fatty acids identified in the LM of Shaziling pigs were C16:0, C16:1, C18:0, C18:1n9c, and C18:2n6c. An opposite correlation was observed for C18:2n6c and n6/n3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (P<0.05). Alanine, aspartate, glutamate, D-glutamine, and D-glutamate metabolism were the main metabolic pathways for the Shaziling pig meat flavor (P<0.05). Moreover, the correlation coefficients revealed that the contents of anserine, C16:0, C16:1, and C18:1n9c were positively correlated with intramuscular fat and/or pH24h and were negatively correlated with the values of L* (lightness) and b* (yellowness) (P<0.05). In conclusion, age greatly affected the meat quality of Shaziling pigs, and the contents of muscular anserine, C16:0, C16:1, and C18:1n9c might be promising indicators for better meat quality.

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Acknowledgements

This work was jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U19A2037), the Changsha Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholar (kq2009020), Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (2020-2022QNRC003), the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (2021JJ20044), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi Province (2020JJA130102), China Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA (CARS-35), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA24030204), the National Key Research and Development Programs of China (2022YFD1300503), and the Science and Technology Innovation Program of Hunan Province (2022RC1159).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Nutritional Physiology and Metabolic Process, National Engineering Laboratory for Pollution Control and Waste Utilization in Livestock and Poultry Production, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, 410125, China

    Yehui Duan, Changbing Zheng, Jie Zheng, Xichen Zhao, Fengna Li, Qiuping Guo & Yulong Yin

  2. College of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Yehui Duan, Jie Zheng, Fengna Li, Qiuping Guo & Yulong Yin

  3. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences and School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China

    Lu Ma, Xinran Ma & Yinzhao Zhong

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  1. Yehui Duan
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  2. Changbing Zheng
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  3. Jie Zheng
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  4. Lu Ma
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  6. Yinzhao Zhong
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  9. Qiuping Guo
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Correspondence to Qiuping Guo or Yulong Yin.

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Duan, Y., Zheng, C., Zheng, J. et al. Profiles of muscular amino acids, fatty acids, and metabolites in Shaziling pigs of different ages and relation to meat quality. Sci. China Life Sci. 66, 1323–1339 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-022-2227-6

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