Combining quantitative lipidomics with meat quality traits to identify key lipids involved in intramuscular fat deposition in geese

This study utilized the O2PLS model to successfully integrate multidimensional data from meat quality traits and quantitative lipidomics, identifying key lipids involved in lipid deposition in goose meat. Meat quality analysis showed higher intramuscular fat content in goose meat during the sexual maturity phase. Lipidomics techniques were subsequently applied to elucidate differences in breast muscle lipid profiles between the growth phase and sexual maturity phase. Using UPLC-ESI-MS/MS, 298 lipids were identified as significantly altered. Unsupervised principal component analysis was employed to identify characteristic lipids distinguishing the two stages. As expected, phospholipids emerged as the key metabolites differentiating developmental stages, with three phospholipids identified in growth phase and five in sexual maturity phase. Finally, the O2PLS model revealed that characteristic lipids PE-P(P-16:0_18:1), PC(O-16:1_20:4), LPC (22:6), and SMs(d18:1/19:0) were significantly positively correlated with fat deposition in goose meat. Collectively, these findings offer new insights into the mechanisms of intramuscular fat deposition in goose meat and provide potential molecular targets for improving meat quality through dietary or breeding strategies.