Quasi-Targeted Metabolomics Approach Reveal the Metabolite Differences of Three Poultry Eggs

As a food resource and nutrient, eggs play an important role in reducing malnutrition and improving the health status around the world. We studied the metabolite profile of three kinds of eggs using a widely-targeted metabolomics-based technique to better understand the difference in metabolites among chicken, duck, and quail eggs. We identified 617 metabolites, of which 303, 324, 302, 64, 81, and 80 differential metabolites were found by two group comparisons: quail egg yolk (QY) vs. quail egg albumen (QW), chicken egg yolk (HY) vs. chicken egg albumen (HW), duck egg yolk (DY) vs. duck egg albumen (DW), quail egg (Q) vs. duck egg (D)/chicken egg (H), and duck egg (D) vs. chicken egg (H), respectively. The Venn diagram showed that 147 metabolites were shared among the chicken, duck, and quail eggs. Additionally, the nucleotide and its derivates had the largest variations among the different types of eggs. This indicates that the flavor difference of the chicken eggs, duck eggs, and quail eggs may be related to their nucleotides and their derivates. The differential metabolites between egg yolk and albumen were primarily correlated with amino acid metabolism, protein metabolism, and immune performance. The discovery of these differential metabolites paves the way for further research on the nutritional potentials of various egg types.