Searching For the Function of Tissue Transglutaminase: Its Possible Involvement in the Biochemical Pathway of Programmed Cell Death

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Abstract
Transglutaminases are Ca2+-dependent enzymes occurring widely in cells and body fluids (Folk and Chung, 1973; Chung, 1975; Folk, 1980). They catalyze the formation of ε(γ-glutamyl)lysine cross-links between proteins and γ-glutamylamine derivatives in proteins providing a potentially and functionally significant posttranslational modification (Folk and Finlayson, 1977; Folk et al., 1980). Three distinct forms have been studied most extensively, namely the catalytic (‘a’) subunit of blood coagulation factor XIII, the tissue transglutaminase and the keratinocyte enzyme. Studying the coagulation and the tissue enzyme remarkable progress has been made in our understanding of the catalytic mechanism of transglutaminases (Folk, 1983).