Comparative analysis of non-targeted metabolomics of leg muscle and longissimus dorsi muscle of Qilian Tibetan sheep
YUAN Zhikuan
CHEN Siyuan
ZHANG Jianhua
FENG Peijian
CEHN Shengmei
YAO Liangwei
LI Shaobin
LI Wenhao
Abstract：The experiment aimed to reveal the differences in meat quality and the formation mechanism of flavor compounds in different parts of Qilian Tibetan sheep.The study employed untargeted metabolomics technology to compare and analyze the metabolic profiles of the leg muscle and longissimus dorsi muscle of Qilian Tibetan sheep.Six healthy 12-month-old Qilian Tibetan sheep raised under identical environmental conditions were selected.After slaughter,samples of the longissimus dorsi muscle and leg muscle were collected.Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS)was used for metabolite separation and identification,and principal component analysis(PCA)and partial least squares-discriminant analysis(PLS-DA)were applied for statistical analysis of the data.The results showed that a total of 20 significantly different metabolic pathways were identified,including the oxidative phosphorylation pathway,pyruvate metabolism pathway,and phosphoinositide metabolism pathway.The differential metabolites between the leg muscle and the longissimus dorsi muscle were mainly involved in pathways such as pyruvate metabolism,phosphoinositide metabolism,the citric acid cycle,tryptophan metabolism,phenylalanine metabolism,and tyrosine metabolism.These pathways played important regulatory roles in the formation of flavor compounds in Qilian Tibetan sheep.A total of 130 significantly different metabolites were identified,among which 61 metabolites were significantly up-regulated(P<0.05),and 69 metabolites were significantly down-regulated(P<0.05).The study shows that there were significant differences in metabolic levels between the leg muscle and the longissimus dorsi muscle,with key differential metabolites,such as phosphoenolpyruvate and glutamate,serving as precursors of flavor compounds,and playing an important role in the formation of mutton flavor.
Keywords：Qilian Tibetan sheepleg musclelongissimus dorsi musclemetabolomicsdifferential metabolic pathways
Publication Date：2026-01-28
Online Publishing Date：2026-03-20(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 59-64 )