title: Peptidomics as a tool for quality control in dry-cured ham processing.
abstract: Spanish dry-cured ham is a high quality product whose economic value is mainly given by its curing time. An intense proteolysis takes place throughout the dry-cured processing, which results in the generation of a high amount of peptides and free amino acids responsible for the final quality of dry-cured hams. In this work, a peptidomics approach has been used to study the evolution of peptides throughout the ham dry-curing process, identifying and quantifying the generated peptides in order to define potential quality biomarkers. For this purpose, dry-cured ham extracts at different processing times (0, 2, 3.5, 5, 6.5 and 9months) were fractionated by size-exclusion chromatography and analysed by nanoliquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. Differences obtained in the relative quantification of peptides by using a label-free methodology were useful to establish differences between processing times, being peptides generated by the degradation of myosin light chain 1 protein mainly responsible for the observed differences during the last stages of curing. In particular, APAPAPAPPKEEKI and PAPAPAPAPAPAPAPPKE, exclusively identified at 9months of curing, would be potential markers to control the time of curing and thus the final quality of dry-cured hams. Biological significance A peptidomics approach has been used to study the evolution of peptides throughout the ham dry-curing process, identifying peptides APAPAPAPPKEEKI and PAPAPAPAPAPAPAPPKE, which were only detected at 9months of process. So, they would constitute good potential markers to control the time of processing and thus the final quality of dry-cured hams.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (CSIC), Avenue Agustín Escardino 7, 46980 Paterna, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gallego
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (CSIC), Avenue Agustín Escardino 7, 46980 Paterna, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Leticia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mora
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (CSIC), Avenue Agustín Escardino 7, 46980 Paterna, Valencia, Spain. Electronic address: ftoldra@iata.csic.es.
authors.forename: Fidel
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Toldrá
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002845:Chromatography; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D008461:Meat Products; D010455:Peptides / Q000032:analysis*; D011506:Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D059748:Proteolysis; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods*; D011786:Quality Control; D013552:Swine; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides; D011506:Proteins
keywords: Biomarker; Dry-cured ham; Label-free; Mass spectrometry; Peptides; Peptidomics; Quantification