Peptidomics approaches for meat authentication employing rapid in-solution GELFrEE fractionation and MALDI-TOF MS

A rapid and highly reproducible gel-eluted liquid fraction entrapment electrophoresis (GELFrEE) coupled with MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (MS) is proposed for authenticating adulteration of water buffalo meat with pork. The GELFrEE offers novel in-solution protein fractionation with a dynamic range from 3.5 to 500 kDa and the specificity sufficient to be implemented effectively for the identification of water buffalo and pork-specific peptides derived from myoglobin ('HPGDFGADAQGAMSK', 'HPSDFGADAQAAMSK') and carbonic anhydrase3 ('GGPLTAAYR', 'GGPLAAPYR') demonstrating their potential as heat-stable markers for meat authentication including commercial samples. The GELFrEE and MS-based approach efficiently authenticated raw and heatprocessed meat and meat mixes up to 0.5 % (w/w) level. The quick extraction protocol and rapid fractionation by GELFrEE offer better solutions for routine MS-based approaches to address global meat fraud issues.