Comparative proteomic analysis of proteins associated with water holding capacity in goose muscles

The objective of this study was to unravelling the possible mechanism underlying drip loss and identify the protein markers associated with water holding capacity (WHC) of meat. Pectoralis major muscles from geese were assigned to high and low drip loss groups. The physio-chemical properties and proteome profiles were compared between these two groups. Label-free quantitative mass spectrometry was applied to investigate the differentially expressed proteins, and the results were confirmed with parallel reaction monitoring (PRM). 21 differential proteins were identified in abundance between high and low drip loss groups, and they fall generally into the structural proteins, metabolic enzymes, antioxidant enzymes and stress response proteins. The results may provide a perspective to the discovery of new biomarkers for drip loss.