Transglutaminase: Fundamentals and Applications, a new volume in the Foundations and Frontiers in Enzymology series, stands as a comprehensive resource on this increasingly important class of enzymes. Following an introduction to the field, international experts discuss basic biology and structure – function relationships of transglutaminases, ongoing fundamental research, and new application areas, including food processing, material synthesis, biomedicine, disease treatment, and biotechnology. Approaches for sourcing transglutaminases from animals, plants, and microorganisms are considered, followed by chapters on applied uses in biomedicine, skin, bone biology, medicine, drug development, tissue engineering, seafood bioprocessing, dairy bioprocessing, synthesis of materials and polymers, and as an immobilization agent. Research protocols are also provided, including research rationale, design, substrates, assays, and microassay steps for studying transglutaminases.

Table of Contents:
An introduction to transglutaminases Yi Zhang, Srividya Parthasarathy, and Benjamin K. Simpson Chapter 1 Transglutaminases from microorganisms Limin Wang and Yi Wang 1. Introduction 2. Microbial sources of TGase 3. Biotechnological production of MTGase 4. Concluding remarks and outlook References Chapter 2 Transglutaminases from plant sources Stefano Del Duca and Giampiero Cai 1. Introduction 2. Phylogenetic relationship and bioinformatic analyses 3. Distribution and physiological roles of TGases in plants 4. Conclusions References Chapter 3 Transglutaminases from animals Jirawat Yongsawatdigul, Ali Hamzeh and Bung-orn Hemung 1. Introduction 2. Function and distribution 3. Conclusions References Chapter 4 Newly engineered transglutaminases Han Liu, Ishita Ghosh, Corinne Nardin and Yi Zhang 1. Introduction 2. Methodology for engineering transglutaminases 3. Newly engineered microbial transglutaminases 4. Newly engineered animal transglutaminases 5. Regulations References Chapter 5 Transglutaminase 2 in neurological conditions Thomas Delgado and Gail V.W. Johnson 1. Discovery of TG2 and its association with proteinopathies 2. TG2’s complex role in neuron survival 3. TG2 in CNS injury and neuroinflammation 4. Epigenetic regulation by TG2 5. Conclusions References Chapter 6 Transglutaminases in cardiovascular health and disease Lakshmi Santhanam Abbreviations 1. Introduction 2. Transglutaminases in the cardiovascular system 3. Transglutaminases in vascular diseases 4. Transglutaminases in cardiac disease 5. Transglutaminases in thromboembolism 6. Conclusions and future perspectives References Chapter 7 Microbial transglutaminase in drug development Riko Nishioka, Ryo Sato, Kazuki Uchida, Rie Wakabayashi and Noriho Kamiya 1. Introduction 2. Protein modification using small molecule substrates 3. Preparation of proteineprotein conjugates 4. Protein modification using synthetic polymeric substrates 5. Introduction of hydrophobic molecules into proteins 6. Conclusion Acknowledgments References Chapter 8 Transglutaminases in meat and seafood bioprocessing Pınar Yerlikaya and Nalan Gokoglu 1. Transglutaminases in meat bioprocessing 2. Transglutaminases in seafood bioprocessing 3. Conclusion References Chapter 9 Transglutaminase in dairy processing Ehab Romeih, Marek Kieliszek and Essam Hebishy 1. Introduction 2. MTGase applications in dairy processing 3. Conclusions and future remarks References Chapter 10 Transglutaminase in noodles, pastas, and baked products Seyed Mohammad Taghi Gharibzahedi and Zeynep Altintas 1. Introduction 2. Noodle and TGase 3. Pasta and TGase 4. Bread and TGase 5. Other bakery products and TGase 6. Health and nutritional properties 7. Conclusions Acknowledgments References Chapter 11 Transglutaminase in textile, wool, silk, and leather processing Ning Zhang, Penghui Yang, Man Zhou, Qiang Wang, Song Liu and Jian Chen 1. Transglutaminase in wool processing 2. Transglutaminase in silk processing 3. Transglutaminase in leather processing 4. Conclusion References Chapter 12 Immobilization of transglutaminases and transglutaminase as immobilization agent Katja Vasic, Zeljko Knez and Maja Leitgeb 1. Introduction 2. Enzymatic properties of TGase 3. Production and substrate preference of TGase 4. TGase immobilization 5. TGase as immobilizing agent in food and biotechnology industries 6. Conclusions Acknowledgments References Chapter 13 Industrial production of transglutaminase Keiichi Yokoyama 1. Background to food innovation with transglutaminase 2. Feasibility study on protein modification by TGase 3. Search for a TGase for industrial applications 4. Developments for MTGase commercialization 5. MTGase in nature 6. Recombinant production of MTGase 7. MTGase variants with improved properties 8. Food safety and regulation 9. Concluding remarks References Further reading Index