Background: Knowledge of transglutaminase behaviour at thermal treatment allows efficient applications in food processing. The heat-induced conformational changes of microbial transglutaminase were studied by fluorescence spectroscopy and a molecular modelling approach.
Results: The experimental results indicate the unfolding of transglutaminase in a single-phase reaction, at temperatures over 60 °C. The incidence of conformational changes is also supported by the increase of both intrinsic and 1-anilino-8-naphthalene sulfonate fluorescence intensity with temperature. Changes in the secondary and tertiary structure of transglutaminase were outlined after running molecular dynamics simulations at temperatures ranging from 25 °C to 80 °C.
Conclusion: The motif's particularities varied with the temperature, suggesting structural rearrangements of the protein, mainly in helices. The largest deviation from the structure equilibrated at 25 °C was observed at 80 °C.
© 2012 Society of Chemical Industry.