Treatment of bleached wool with trans-glutaminases to enhance tensile strength, whiteness, and alkali resistance

Trans-glutaminases is known as a cross-linking enzyme for proteins. Wool is a proteinous fiber conventionally is treated through several processes to obtain the desirable characteristics. Bleaching is also one of the most important processes usually carried out by using an oxidizing agent in a conventional method. The tensile strength of wool yarns was reduced as a consequence of oxidative bleaching. Here, with the help of microbial trans-glutaminases (m-TGases), a novel bleaching process was disclosed in a way to obtain a bleached wool yarn with no significant reduction in the tensile strength. The results confirmed that the bleached wool yarns with H₂O₂ could be modified by m-TGases post-treatment. The m-TGases treatment on the bleached wool yarns improved the tensile strength and whiteness along with the higher alkali resistance.