Identification of glutaminyl sites on β-lactoglobulin for threadfin bream liver and microbial transglutaminase activity by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry

The cross-linking of β-lactoglobulin (BLG) was efficiently catalysed by microbial transglutaminase (MTG) but not by fish (threadfin bream) liver transglutaminase (FTG). BLG cross-linking was inhibited by 2 mM 5-(biotinamido) pentylamine (BPNH2) and MTG incorporated BPNH2 into BLG ∼5 times more than was FTG. The glutaminyl sites for the incorporation of BPNH2 into BLG by FTG and MTG were identified using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). MALDI-TOF MS analyses showed that MTG and FTG incorporated 4 and 1 residues of BPNH2 per molecule of BLG, respectively. The BPNH2-tagged BLG was digested by trypsin and BPNH2-tagged peptides were selectively purified by avidin-affinity chromatography. Amino acid sequences of BPNH2-tagged peptides were identified by comparing their MALDI-TOF mass spectra with the theoretical mass profiles from the MASCOT database. The BPNH2-modification sites catalysed by MTG were glutamine (Q)13, Q68, Q15 or Q20, Q155 or Q159, whilst FTG only incorporated BPNH2 into BLG at Q68. The different reactivities between FTG and MTG might be due to the different accessibilities of these TGases to the Q residues as well as to differences in substrate specificities.