Microbial transglutaminases

Although the main applications of microbial transglutaminases remain in the food sector, novel potential applications have emerged during the last decade. These applications cover the areas of biomedical engineering, material science, textiles and leather processing. For a recent excellent review by Zhu and Tramper see [55]. 

MICROBIAL TRANSGLUTAMINASE IN FOOD PROCESSING (Zhu et al, 1995 and references cited therein)... 

The production of transglutaminase by microorganisms makes it possible to apply this enzyme in a variety of food processes. An overview of the application possibilities for microbial transglutaminase in food processing is given in Table 3.5. A few of these examples will be described in some detail below, in order to show the simphcity of the treatment with microbial transglutaminase and the positive effects that can be obtained. 

Table 3.5 Overview of applications of microbial transglutaminase in food processing...

Reduction of milk allergenicity is possible by a cross-linked reaction of milk proteins with microbial transglutaminase (m-TG) (Wroblewska et al. 2008). Diary products thus obtained possessed better functional properties with weaker syneresis and stronger curd. Also, the organoleptic properties of yoghurt prepared with m-TG make a favorable impression on potential allergic consumers. 

Bauer, N., Koehler, P., Wieser, H., Schieberle, P. 2003. Studies on effects of microbial transglutaminase on gluten proteins of wheat. I. Biochemical analysis. Cereal Chem 80 781-786. 

Bonet, A., Caballero, P.A., Gomez, M., Rosell, C.M. 2005. Microbial transglutaminase as a tool to restore the functionality of gluten from insect-damaged wheat. Cereal Chem 82 425 130. 

Gerrard, J.A., Fayle, S.E., Brown, P.A., Sutton, K.H., Simmons, L., Rasiah, I. 2001. Effects of microbial transglutaminase on the wheat proteins of bread and croissant dough. J Food Sci 66 782-786. 

Tseng, C.S., Lai, H.M. 2002. Physicochemical properties of wheat flour dough modified by microbial transglutaminase. J Food Sci 67 750-755. 

Zhu, Y., Rinzema, A., Tramper, J., Bol, J. 1995. Microbial transglutaminase—A review of its production and application in food processing. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 44 277-282. 

Microbial transglutaminase is capable of incorporating amino acids or peptides covalently into proteins (Nonaka et al., 1996). This reaction can improve the nutritive values of food or feed proteins, because covalently incorporated amino acids or peptides behave like amino acid residues in a protein. 

Since application of microbial transglutaminase-catalyzed modification on food proteins is vast, intense attention must be focused on nutritional efficiency of such cross-linked proteins. It has been demonstrated that the glutamine-lysine dipeptide could be metabolized in rats, and that lysine was... 

Nonaka, M., Sakamoto, H., Toiguchi, S., Kawajiri, H., Soeda, T., and Motoki, M. 1992. Sodium caseinate and skim milk gels formed by incubation with microbial transglutaminase. J. Food Sci. 57, 1214-1218. 

Nonaka, M., Matsuura, Y., and Motoki, M. 1996. Incorporation of lysine dipeptides into asl-casein by Ca2+-independent microbial transglutaminase. Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem. 60, 131-133. 

Pietrasik, Z., and Li-Chan, E.C.Y. (2002). Response surface methodology study on the effects of salt, microbial transglutaminase and heating temperature on pork batter gel properties. Food Res. Int. 35, 387-396. 

Pietrasik, Z. (2003). Binding and textural properties of beef gels processed with K-carrageenan, egg albumin and microbial transglutaminase. Meat Sci. 63, 317-324. 

Pietrasik, Z., and Jarmoluk, A. (2003). Effect of sodium caseinate and K-carrageenan on binding and textural properties of pork muscle gels enhanced by microbial transglutaminase aAAitioa. Food Res. Int. 36, 285-294. 

Babiker, E.F.E., Fujisawa, N., Matsudomi, N., Kato, A. (1996). Improvement of the functional properties of gluten by protease digestion or acid hydrolysis followed by microbial transglutaminase treatment. J. Agric. Food Chem., 44, 3746-3750. 

Sakamoto, H., Kumazawa, Y., and Motoki, M. (1994). Strength of protein gels prepared with microbial transglutaminase as related to reaction conditions. ]. Food Sci. 59(4), 866-871. 

G6mez-Guillen, M.C. et al., Effect of microbial transglutaminase on the functional properties of megrim (Lepidorhombus boscii) skin gelatin, J. Sci. Food Agric., 81, 665, 2001. 

Schorsch, C., Carrie, H., Clark, A.H., and Norton, l.T. (2000a). Cross-linking casein micelles by a microbial transglutaminase conditions for formation of transglutaminase-induced gels. Int. Dairy J. 10, 519-528. 

J. (2007) Improvement of shrink-resistance and tensile strength of wool fabric treated with a novel microbial transglutaminase from Streptomyces hygroscopicus. Enzyme Microb. Technol, 40 (7), 1753-1757. 

Zhu, Y., and Tramper, J. (2008) Novel applications for microbial transglutaminase beyond food processing. Trends Biotechnol., 26 (10), 559-565. 

Uresti, M.R., Velazquez, G., Vazquez, M., Ramirez, A.J., and Torres, J.A. 2006. Effects of combining microbial transglutaminase and high pressure processing treatments on the mechanical properties of heat-induced gels prepared from arrowtooth flounder (Atheresthes stomias). Food Chemistry 94 202-209. 

Some cross-linking enzyme, particularly microbial transglutaminase (MTGase) can induce a subsequent aggregation of renatured proteins. Furthermore, an addition of selected protein additives is also a means to improve the gel quality (Figure 9.8). Benjakul and Visessanguan (2004) found that the addition of 0.05%-... 

Much work has also been carried out on non-cereal plant proteins. Solid-state H and 2H NMR transverse relaxation measurements were used to investigate the effect of hydration on the plasticization of vicilin, legumin, and albumin fractions from peas.81 Their behaviour indicated that the plasticization of the globular legume proteins is considerably less than that found before for the linear barley protein C-hordein. The effects of microbial transglutaminase treatment on soy protein samples have been studied by H and solid-state 13C NMR spectroscopy, and its relation to the glass transition temperature was examined.82-83... 

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