BACILLUS ORIGINATED TRANSGLUTAMINASE: PROPERTIES AND USAGE

Enzymes with very important duties, form part of our lives and are useful in various fields. Owing to both the intensity of use and the amount of effective production in standard conditions, the production and use of bacterial-originated enzymes are used continuously in agriculture, health, food and many other industrial areas. Among them, transglutaminases (EC 2.3.2.13) are both intracellular and extracellular enzymes included in the transferase group that catalyse cross-links between proteins. Microbial transglutaminase enzymes are frequently used in the food and pharmaceutical industries to change the functional properties of proteins since it increases viscosity, elasticity and water holding capacity. Particularly the positive effects in meat, dairy, and bakery products such as gelling, increasing mechanical strength, and reducing structural deformations, specifically the texture. It also contributes to reducing the use of additives in diets with low protein and fat content. Furthermore, it reduces the time for cooking processes as well as sensory properties enhancement. Transglutaminase enzymes are also being used in other fields such as tissue culture, biochemical and biomedical research, textile, and leather industries. In this review, a broad perspective is presented on the literature dealing with bacterial transglutaminase studies, especially those belonging to the genus Bacillus. In Bacillus spp., transglutaminase gene was mostly reported in B. subtilis, B. amyloliquefaciens, B. cereus, B. nakamura, B. circulans species and also recently in the whole genome of local Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) SY49.1 strain (JAHKEZ010000474.1) using the RAST database. It was determined that the Bt transglutaminase gene was 93% identical to that of B. cereus species. The presence of transglutaminase gene in agriculturally indispensable Bt strain can confer them a superficial characteristic due to their water holding capacity in terms of increasing the yield and quality of plant products.