In vitro synthesis of particulate glycogen from uridine diphosphate glucose

Brain Glycogen Structure and Its Associated Proteins: Past, Present and Future

This chapter reviews the history of glycogen-related research and discusses in detail the structure, regulation, chemical properties and subcellular distribution of glycogen and its associated proteins, with particular focus on these aspects in brain tissue.

Improved yields of cyclic nigerosylnigerose from starch by pretreatment with a thermostable branching enzyme

Cyclic nigerosylnigerose (CNN) is produced enzymatically from starch by the combined action of 6-alpha-glucosyltransferase and 3-alpha-isomaltosyltransferase. In our previous study, alpha-1,6-branching chains found in the structure of amylopectin and glycogen were shown to be favorable for CNN formation by the two enzymes. Therefore, we examined whether the introduction of alpha-1,6-branch points into starch using the action of branching enzyme (BE) could improve the yield of CNN from starch. Thermostable BE from Geobacillus stearothermophilus TC-91 was prepared as a purified recombinant protein. Pretreatment of amylose with BE considerably increased the CNN yield from 5% to 38%. When BE acted on tapioca starch, the CNN yield was elevated from 47% to 60%. Conversely, BE treatment of waxy corn starch containing very little amylose resulted in a negligible increase in CNN yield. In addition, BE exerted a beneficial effect when starch with a lower degree of hydrolysis was used as a substrate. The present results indicate that the addition of alpha-1,6-glucosidic linkages to starch using BE is an effective strategy to improve the yield of CNN from starch.

Glycogen contains phosphodiester groups that can be introduced by UDPglucose: glycogen glucose 1-phosphotransferase

Rabbit-muscle glycogen contains covalently bound phosphorus, equivalent to 1 phosphate group per 208 glucose residues. This often disputed, minor component was previously thought to represent a phosphomonoester group at C-6 of a glucose residue. Here we show that more than half the phosphorus is present as a phosphodiester, the remainder being monoester. A novel enzyme activity has been found in muscle that can account for the presence of the phosphodiester in glycogen. This is a UDPglucose: glycogen glucose 1-phosphotransferase that positions glucose 1-phosphate on C-6 of glucose residues in glycogen, forming a diester. The phosphomonoester groups present may arise by removal of the glucose residue originally transferred as glucose 1-phosphate.

Dolichyl-phosphate phosphatase and dolichyl-diphosphate phosphatase in rat-liver microsomes

Dolichyl-phosphate phosphatase and dolichyl-diphosphate phosphatase activities of a liver-cell microsomal preparation were solubilized by treatment with Triton X-100. The 100,000 X g supernatant was then passed through a column of Sepharose-4B--concanavalin A. Both enzyme activities were found in the percolate. This treatment eliminated inhibition by ATP and glucose 6-phosphate in both phosphatase activities. In each case the activities were inhibited by higher concentrations of enzyme preparation due to the presence of phospholipids. The inhibitory effects of either phosphatidylcholine or phosphatidylethanolamine were due to competition for detergent. On the other hand, the effect produced by phosphatidic acid appeared to be different, since it did not change the optimal concentration of Triton X-100 for the two enzymes. Dolichyl-phosphate phosphatase was strongly inhibited by both Pi and PPi, whereas dolichyl-diphosphate phosphatase was only slightly inhibited by Pi and not at all by PPi. Dolichyl-diphosphate phosphatase was more inhibited by divalent cations than dolichyl-phosphate phosphatase. The apparent Km of dolichyl-phosphate phosphatase for dolichyl phosphate was 0.15 mM. Dolichol also inhibited dolichyl-phosphate phosphatase, but it produced a stronger inhibition on dolichyl-diphosphate phosphatase. The inhibitory effect of dolichol was not entirely due to detergent competition.

"In vivo" effects of insulin on carbohydrate metabolism of catfish (Ictalurus melas)

The effect of insulin was studied on blood glucose, and on the glycogen level of liver, muscles and heart in fed and in starved catfish (Ictalurus melas). Fish received intraperitoneally 60 iu/kg body weight of bovine insulin, or physiological saline and were sacrificed after 2, 4, 8, 24, 72 hr from injection. Insulin caused a decrease of blood glucose level, both in fed and in fasted animals, and the effect is more evident in fed animals. After insulin treatment, liver glycogen shows a decrease which is significant at the 8th and 24th hr in fasted and in fed animals respectively; after 72 hr the glycogen level in livers of fed and fasted animals is still very low. Insulin increases the glycogen level both in white and in dark muscle, both in fed and in fasted fish, although with different characteristics, but at the 72nd hr in all animals, the increases are significant. Hormone treatment does not change heart glycogen levels in fed catfish till the 24th hr, then there is a net decrease; in starved animals the decrease begins at the 2nd hr, but only at the 48th hr is it significant. The role of insulin was discussed in relation to the lowering of glycogen concentration in liver, in connection with the fact that many authors found different and even opposite effects of this hormone in various fish. It is possible that the glycogen depletion observed in liver after insulin injection is not due to a direct action of this hormone, but depends on the stimulated production of other specific glycogenolytic hormones, such as epinephrine and/or glucagon.

Glucose in vertebrate skeletal muscle proteins

Neutral sugar was found in proteins extracted with acid chloroform/methanol from skeletal muscle of frog, normal and dystrophic chicken as well as in conventional preparations of frog tropomyosin and rabbit myosin. Whenever tested, the sugar content remained unaffected by two extractions with 5% trichloroacetic acid and by treatment with acid (0.1 N hydrochloric acid) or alkali (0.1 N sodium hydroxide, 60--90 min, 100 degrees C). These and other chemical properties favor the notion that sugar is present in covalent linkage to protein rather than as an attending contaminant. In every protein studied sugar profiles consisted of glucose only except rabbit myosin where it was accompanied by another sugar, presumably ribose.

The role of polyprenol-bound saccharides as intermediates in glycoprotein synthesis in liver

It has been reported that liver microsomes catalyze the transfer of glucose from uridine diphosphate glucose to dolichol monophosphate so as to produce dolichol monophosphate glucose. Dolichol is a polyprenol containing about 20 isoprene units. The glucosyl residue of dolichol monophosphate glucose is transferred to an endogenous acceptor on further incubation with liver microsomes. The glucosylated endogenous acceptor appears to be an oligosaccharide of about 20 monosaccharide units bound to dolichol through a phosphate or pyrophosphate bridge. In this paper it is reported that liver microsomes catalyze the transfer of the oligosaccharide from the glucosylated endogenous acceptor to an endogenous protein. This transfer reaction requires the presence of bivalent cations, manganese being more effective than magnesium. The presence of deoxycholate is also required. Besides the glycoprotein, several water-soluble products are also formed. Preliminary evidence indicates that they are glucose, iligosaccharides of different size, and possibly oligosaccharides bound to amino acids.

Enzymic explorations of the structures of starch and glycogen

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