Effects of microbial transglutaminase on the wheat proteins of bread and croissant dough

Transglutaminase is a crosslinking enzyme that is finding increasing use in foods, yet the molecular changes responsible for its effects are not fully understood. Proteins were extracted from bread and croissant doughs that h ad been treated with transglutaminase and compared to those from control do ughs by size exclusion high performance liquid chromatography and sodium do decyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis. Transglutaminase increased the amount of protein extracted in the gliadin fraction in both bread and croissant doughs. In croissant doughs, a corresponding decrease i n the protein extracted in the albumin to globulin fraction was seen. In ea ch case, crosslinking of the high molecular weight glutenins was observed. The possible role of each of these changes on the functional properties of baked products is discussed.