Food-related transglutaminase obtained from fish/shellfish

In the past two decades, there has been an upsurge of interest in transglutaminase (TGase) research due to their immense value in food applications to improve the quality as well as functional and nutritional attributes of food. Besides, TGases have been involved in new biomaterial development and shown to have potential in various biomedical applications. Presently, TGases from microbial sources (and some animal sources) are the main forms of the enzyme used in industrial applications. Nonetheless, there are disadvantages with the commercial TGases currently in use for food processing, such as the low activity, low yield, high cost, consumer aversions on their safety, and difficult in activity recovery, among others. Fish and shellfish TGases are promising alternatives for use in food industries due to their cheap sources, high yield and special characteristics such as cold activity and thermal-lability. This review presents at the onset, the catalytic mechanism of TGase based on updated research; compares the enzymatic properties of fish/shellfish TGases with their animal, plant and microbial counterparts; summarizes the unique properties of fish/shellfish TGases related with food usage; and discusses the current and potential applications of fish/shellfish TGases in foods.