[67] α-1,4-glucan: α-1,4-glucan 6-glycosyltransferase from mammalian muscle

Spatial Structure of Glycogen Molecules in Cells

Glycogen is a strongly branched polymer of α-D-glucose, with glucose residues in the linear chains linked by 1→4-bonds (~93% of the total number of bonds) and with branching after every 4-8 residues formed by 1→6-glycosidic bonds (~7% of the total number of bonds). It is thought currently that a fully formed glycogen molecule (β-particle) with the self-glycosylating protein glycogenin in the center has a spherical shape with diameter of ~42 nm and contains ~ 55,000 glucose residues. The glycogen molecule also includes numerous proteins involved in its synthesis and degradation, as well as proteins performing a carcass function. However, the type and force of bonds connecting these proteins to the polysaccharide moiety of glycogen are significantly different. This review presents the available data on the spatial structure of the glycogen molecule and its changes under various physiological and pathological conditions.

Molecular cloning, functional expression and purification of a glucan branching enzyme from Neisseria denitrificans(1)

The nucleotide sequence containing the complete structural information for a glucan branching enzyme was isolated from a Neisseria denitrificans genomic library. The gene was expressed in Escherichia coli and the active recombinant protein was purified. The deduced protein of 762 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight of 86313 Da shows similarity to the primary protein sequences of other known glucan branching enzymes. Amino acid sequencing of the isolated protein by Edman degradation confirmed the deduced start codon of the structural gene of the glucan branching enzyme. The purified glucan branching enzyme has a stimulating effect on the Neisseria amylosucrase activity.

Physical constraints in the synthesis of glycogen that influence its structural homogeneity: a two-dimensional approach

Several aspects of glycogen optimization as an efficient fuel storage molecule have been studied in previous works: the chain length and the branching degree. These results demonstrated that the values of these variables in the cellular molecule are those that optimize the structure-function relationship. In the present work we show that structural homogeneity of the glycogen molecule is also an optimized variable that plays an important role in its metabolic function. This problem was studied by means of a two-dimensional approach, which allowed us to simplify the very complicated structure of glycogen. Our results demonstrate that there is a molecular size limit that guarantees the structural homogeneity, beyond which the structure of the molecule degenerates, as many chains do not grow. This strongly suggests that such a size limit is precisely what the molecule possesses in the cell.

How did glycogen structure evolve to satisfy the requirement for rapid mobilization of glucose? A problem of physical constraints in structure building

Optimization of molecular design in cellular metabolism is a necessary condition for guaranteeing a good structure-function relationship. We have studied this feature in the design of glycogen by means of the mathematical model previously presented that describes glycogen structure and its optimization function [Meléndez-Hevia et al. (1993), Biochem J 295: 477-483]. Our results demonstrate that the structure of cellular glycogen is in good agreement with these principles. Because the stored glucose in glycogen must be ready to be used at any phase of its synthesis or degradation, the full optimization of glycogen structure must also imply the optimization of every intermediate stage in its formation. This case can be viewed as a molecular instance of the eye problem, a classical paradigm of natural selection which states that every step in the evolutionary formation of a functional structure must be functional. The glycogen molecule has a highly optimized structure for its metabolic function, but the optimization of the full molecule has meaning and can be understood only by taking into account the optimization of each intermediate stage in its formation.

Starch- and glycogen-debranching and branching enzymes: prediction of structural features of the catalytic (beta/alpha)8-barrel domain and evolutionary relationship to other amylolytic enzymes

Sequence alignment and structure prediction are used to locate catalytic alpha-amylase-type (beta/alpha)8-barrel domains and the positions of their beta-strands and alpha-helices in isoamylase, pullulanase, neopullulanase, alpha-amylase-pullulanase, dextran glucosidase, branching enzyme, and glycogen branching enzymes--all enzymes involved in hydrolysis or synthesis of alpha-1,6-glucosidic linkages in starch and related polysaccharides. This has allowed identification of the transferase active site of the glycogen debranching enzyme and the locations of beta-->alpha loops making up the active sites of all enzymes studied. Activity and specificity of the enzymes are discussed in terms of conserved amino acid residues and loop variations. An evolutionary distance tree of 47 amylolytic and related enzymes is built on 37 residues representing the four best conserved beta-strands of the barrel. It exhibits clusters of enzymes close in specificity, with the branching and glycogen debranching enzymes being the most distantly related.

Characterization of the Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens glgB gene, which encodes a glycogen-branching enzyme with starch-clearing activity

A Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens H17c glgB gene, was isolated by direct selection for colonies that produced clearing on starch azure plates. The gene was expressed in Escherichia coli from its own promoter. The glgB gene consisted of an open reading frame of 1,920 bp encoding a protein of 639 amino acids (calculated Mr, 73,875) with 46 to 50% sequence homology with other branching enzymes. A limited region of 12 amino acids showed sequence similarity to amylases and glucanotransferases. The B. fibrisolvens branching enzyme was not able to hydrolyze starch but stimulated phosphorylase alpha-mediated incorporation of glucose into alpha-1,4-glucan polymer 13.4-fold. The branching enzyme was purified to homogeneity by a simple two-step procedure; N-terminal sequence and amino acid composition determinations confirmed the deduced translational start and amino acid sequence of the open reading frame. The enzymatic properties of the purified enzyme were investigated. The enzyme transferred chains of 5 to 10 (optimum, 7) glucose units, using amylose and amylopetin as substrates, to produce a highly branched polymer.

Soluble starch synthases and starch branching enzymes from cotyledons of smooth- and wrinkled-seeded lines of Pisum sativum L

Soluble starch synthase and branching enzyme were purified from 18-day-old cotyledons of the smooth-seeded pea cultivar Alaska (RR) and wrinkled-seeded pea cultivar Progress #9 (rr) by DEAE-cellulose chromatography. Two coeluting peaks of primed and citrate-stimulated starch synthase activity and a major and minor peak of branching enzyme activity were observed in Alaska. However, in Progress #9, only one peak of synthase activity was found. When crude extracts of Progress #9 were centrifuged, over 70% of the starch synthase activity was recovered in the pelleted fraction, and additional washings of the pellet released no further activity. The addition of purified starch granules to Alaska crude extracts also resulted in the recovery of a greater proportion of synthase activity in pelleted fractions. The two peaks of branching enzyme activity in Alaska differed in their stimulation of phosphorylase, amylose branching activity, and activity in various buffers. The DEAE-cellulose profile of Progress #9 showed no distinct peak of branching enzyme and less than 10% of the total activity found in Alaska. The association of one form of soluble starch synthase with the pelleted fraction and the greatly reduced levels of branching enzyme provide a partial explanation for the appearance of high-amylose starch in Progress #9 cotyledons.

Immunological characterization of Escherichia coli B glycogen synthase and branching enzyme and comparison with enzymes from other bacteria

Escherichia coli B glycogen synthase and branching enzyme, although similar in amino acid composition, had no significant immunological cross-reactivity. The N-terminal sequences of the glycogen synthase were rich in hydrophobic residues, whereas branching enzyme had a higher content of acidic and basic residues. However, residues 21 to 28 of glycogen synthase and 7 to 14 of branching enzyme shared six of eight residues in common. Two fractions of branching enzyme, branching enzymes I and II, which can be isolated from E. coli B cell extracts, have been shown to be immunologically identical, suggesting that only one type of branching enzyme activity is present in E. coli B. Evidence has been obtained which indicates that E. coli B glycogen synthase and branching enzyme are antigenically very similar to glycogen synthases and branching enzymes from other enteric bacteria. No cross-reactivity with either enzyme was observed in cell extracts from photosynthetic bacteria.

The effects of insulin on myocardial metabolism and acidosis in normoxia and ischaemia. A 31P-NMR study

1. The effect of insulin on the perfused rat heart during normoxia and total ischaemia was studied by 31P-NMR. 2. During normoxic perfusion, insulin increased the phosphocreatine to ATP ratio at the expense of Pi, when glucose was the substrate. No change was observed when acetate was used as the sole substrate. the intracellular pH (as measured from the position of the 2-deoxyglucose 6-phosphate resonance peak) was unaffected by insulin treatment. 3. Infusion of insulin prior to ischaemia caused an increase in the rate and extent of acidosis during the period of no flow while the rate of ATP depletion was decreased. 4. Freeze-clamped studies showed an increase in glycogen levels upon insulin treatment of the glucose perfused rat heart. During ischaemia, a decrease in glycogen content concomitant with an increase in lactate was observed. The accessibility of glycogen to phosphorylase during ischaemia is increased as a result of insulin treatment. The control of glycolysis during ischaemia is discussed with respect to the content and structure of glycogen in heart tissue.

Purification and subunit structure of glycogen-branching enzyme from rabbit skeletal muscle

1,4-alpha-glucan:1,4-alpha-glucan 6-alpha-D-(1,4-alpha-D-glucano) transferase (branching enzyme) was purified by ammonium sulphate precipitation, chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, fractionation with poly(ethyleneglycol) 6000, chromatography on DEAE-Sepharose and gel filtration on Sephadex G150. The final specific activity was 3000 U/mg corresponding to a purification of approximately 10000-fold over the muscle extracts. 0.6 mg of enzyme was isolated from 4000 g muscle within eight days corresponding to an overall yield of 7%. The purified protein was homogeneous as judged by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate, and this technique yielded a molecular weight of 77000 for the subunit molecular weight of branching enzyme. The apparent molecular weight of the native enzyme determined by gel filtration on Sephadex G150 was 60000, demonstrating that branching enzyme is a monomeric protein. Only a very small proportion of the branching enzyme activity in muscle extracts (2%) precipitated with the protein-glycogen complex. This finding, and its low concentration in muscle, explain why a protein-staining band corresponding to branching enzyme cannot be detected by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the protein-glycogen complex.

[Control of glycogen biosynthesis in fetal rat liver]

We have studied through the late foetal period of the rat, the evolution of two enzymes involved in glycogen metabolism of the liver : UDPG glycogen synthetase (a and b forms) and branching enzyme. The activities were measured during the development of normal foetuses and of foetuses experimentally deprived of corticosteroids. In normal foetus the activity of glycogen synthetase and the branching enzyme increased progressively between days 18 and 21 ; but the percentage of glycogen synthetase a increased promptly between days 18 and 19. This variation coincides with the beginning of glycogen accumulation in the liver. In foetuses submitted to corticosteroid shortage, the activity of each enzyme, and the amount of glycogen in the liver, were reduced at term. Cortisol given to the decapited foetus restores subnormal glycogen storage and normal activity of branching enzyme. The activity of synthetase a was slightly increased but remained very low ; only synthetase b was restored to normal. It seems that there is no relationship between the synthesis of glycogen, in the foetal rat liver, and the activity of synthetase a.