Effects of mitochondria on postmortem meat quality: characteristic, isolation, energy metabolism, apoptosis and oxygen consumption

AbstractAbstractMeat quality holds significant importance for both consumers and meat producers. Various factors influence meat quality, and among them, mitochondria play a crucial role. Recent studies have indicated that mitochondria can sustain their functions and viability for a certain duration in postmortem muscles. Consequently, mitochondria have an impact on oxygen consumption, energy metabolism, and apoptotic processes, which in turn affect myoglobin levels, oxidative stress, meat tenderness, fat oxidation, and protein oxidation. Ultimately, these factors influence the color, tenderness, and flavor of meat. However, there is a dearth of comprehensive summaries addressing the effects of mitochondria on postmortem muscle physiology and meat quality. Therefore, this review aims to describe the characteristics of muscle mitochondria and their potential influence on muscle. Additionally, a suitable method for isolating mitochondria is presented. Lastly, the review emphasizes the regulation of oxygen consumption, energy metabolism, and apoptosis by postmortem muscle mitochondria, and provides an overview of relevant research and recent advancements. The ultimate objective of this review is to elucidate the underlying mechanisms through which mitochondria impact meat quality.Keywords: Mitochondriameat tendernesscolorreactive oxygen speciesoxidative phosphorylation Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Author contributionsBo Zou: Conceptualization; investigation; writing – original draft; methodology; validation; software; data curation. Fei Jia: Conceptualization; investigation; validation. Lin Ji: Conceptualization; investigation; validation; data curation. Xingmin Li: Investigation; validation; visualization. Ruitong Dai: Conceptualization; methodology; validation; writing – review and editing; funding acquisition.Additional informationFundingThis work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.32072286).