Tandem mass tag-based quantitative proteomic analysis of protein changes in Xuanwei ham with different ripening periods on quality characteristics

Abstract The purpose of this study was to evaluate the changes in protein degradation in raw ham (XWH0) and Xuanwei hams that had ripened for 1, 2, and 3 years (XWH1, XWH2, and XWH3), as well as their impact on quality. During the whole ripening process, springiness and L* value decreased gradually, while hardness, chewiness, a* value, and b* value increased gradually, accompanied by an increase in proteolysis index. The proteome profile identified 292, 384, and 349 differentially abundant proteins (DAPs) in the XWH1, XWH2, and XWH3 groups compared with the XWH0 group, respectively. These DAPs were mainly implicated in the degradation of structural proteins, metabolic enzymes, binding proteins, and protein turnover. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment indicated that cysteine and methionine metabolism, ribosome, carbon metabolism, thermogenesis, and metabolism processes were the significant pathways common to all the comparison groups. Correlation analysis showed that several DAPs, such as actin, myosin, troponin, and glycolytic enzyme, were closely related to color and texture, which could be used as potential candidate biomarkers for quality characteristics of Xuanwei ham with different ripening periods.