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. 2014 Jan;10(1):137-43.
doi: 10.4161/auto.26659. Epub 2013 Nov 11.

Autophagy during beef aging

Marina García-Macia  1 , Verónica Sierra  2 , Ana Palanca  1 , Ignacio Vega-Naredo  1 , David de Gonzalo-Calvo  1 , Susana Rodríguez-González  1 , Mamen Oliván  3 , Ana Coto-Montes  1
Affiliations

Autophagy during beef aging

Marina García-Macia et al. Autophagy. 2014 Jan.

Abstract

The conversion of muscle into meat is a complex process of major concern for meat scientists due to its influence on the final meat quality. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of autophagic processes in the conversion of muscle into meat. Our findings demonstrated, for the first time, the occurrence of autophagic processes in the muscle tissue at early postmortem period (2 h to 24 h) in both beef breeds studied (Asturiana de los Valles and Asturiana de la Montaña) showing significant time-scale differences between breeds, which could indicate a role of this process in meat maturation. These breeds have different physiological features: while Asturiana de los Valles is a meat-specialized breed showing high growth rate, an elevated proportion of white fibers in the muscle and low intramuscular fat level, Asturiana de la Montaña is a small- to medium-sized rustic breed adapted to less-favored areas, showing more red fibers in the muscle and a high intramuscular fat content.

Keywords: Asturiana de la Montaña; Asturiana de los Valles; autophagy; beef; cathepsins; meat aging.

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Figures

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Figure 1. Immunoblot analysis of BECN1 and actin expression in meat from AV and AM breeds along the postmortem period in the study (2 h to 24 h).
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Figure 2. (A) Immunoblot analysis of LC3-I, LC3-II and actin expression in meat from AV and AM breeds along the postmortem period in the study (2 h to 24 h). (B) Semi-quantitative optical density (arbitrary units) of LC3-I expression normalized to actin. (C) Semi-quantitative optical density (arbitrary units) of LC3-II expression normalized to actin. Significant differences between breeds at a given aging time are expressed as *P < 0.05 and ***P < 0.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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