Session: Session 3

Analysis of endogenous short-chain peptides of relevance to cultivated meat

Cultivated meat represents an alternative to traditional meat production, offering potentially substantial benefits for sustainability, sensory qualities, environmental impact, and animal welfare. Key to replicating the organoleptic attributes of conventional meat is the precise characterization of small molecules important to aroma and taste, including short-chain peptides. Analysis of endogenous small peptides in biological matrices is complex, with several limitations presented by the use of traditional proteomic workflows. Our objective was to develop a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) workflow including a novel data treatment methodology for the detection and identification of endogenous short-chain peptides in animal tissue (meat) and cultured cells. A custom pipeline was developed for data treatment, de novo peptide sequencing and statistical multivariate analysis to produce a list of peptides, which were then screened for sensory and bioactive properties.

The developed method demonstrated high sensitivity in detecting short endogenous peptides from animal tissue and cultured cell samples. Over 500 peptides were identified and their relative abundance in the samples was determined.  Interestingly, peptides with biological properties, especially antioxidant activity were detected. In terms of sensory properties, many peptide sequences associated with bitterness were identified in the liver tissue. End-terminal sequence analysis reveals amino acid residues previously implicated in aroma generation through the Maillard reaction that may be further studied. The utility of this novel workflow can extend across various applications within the cultivated meat industry for benchmarking and product development.