Proteomic changes involved in tenderization of bovine Longissimus dorsi muscle during prolonged ageing

► Meat ageing involves modulation of metabolic, structural, and stress proteins. ► Low pH at 3h post-mortem (5.7–6) correlates to more tender meat after 12days. ► Prolonged meat ageing (26days) doesn’t produce significant variations to sensory attributes. To study proteomic changes involved in tenderization of bovine Longissimus dorsi four Charolaise heifers and four Charolaise bull’s muscles were sampled at slaughter after early and long ageing (2–4°C for 12 and 26days respectively). Descriptive sensory evaluation of samples were performed and their tenderness evaluated by Warner–Bratzler shear force test. Protein composition of fresh muscle and of meat aged was analysed by cartesian and polar 2-D electrophoresis. Student’s t-test and Ranking-PCA analyses were performed to detect proteomic modulation, and the selected protein spots were identified by nano-HPLC-Chip MS/MS. This research has demonstrated that there are no differences between proteomic patterns of male and females Longissimus dorsi muscle, and that the extension of ageing beyond 12days, did not brings any concrete advantage in terms of sensory quality. Furthermore, the data presented here demonstrated that meat maturation caused changes of the abundance of proteins involved in metabolic, structural, and stress related processes.