Journal article
Glycogenin is dispensable for normal liver glycogen metabolism and body glucose homeostasis
International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, Vol.291, pp.1-13
2025
PMID: 39716709
Abstract
Glycogen is a glucose-storage polysaccharide molecule present in animals, fungi and bacteria. The enzyme glycogenin can self-glycosylate, forming an oligosaccharide chain that primes glycogen synthesis. This priming role of glycogenin was first believed to be essential for glycogen synthesis, but glycogen was then found in the skeletal muscle, heart, liver and brain of glycogenin-knockout mice (Gyg KO), thereby showing that glycogen can be synthesized without glycogenin. Within the liver, glycogen is present in the form of individual glycogen particles, called β particles, and larger composite aggregates of linked β particles, called α particles. Previous studies suggested that liver glycogenin plays a role in linking β particles into α particles and thus participating in glucose homeostasis, which implies that α particles would be absent in Gyg KO mice liver. Here we test this through targeted characterization of glycogen structure and through proteomic and metabolic studies on Gyg KO mice. The results show that, contrary to what had been believed, glycogenin is not necessary for normal liver-glycogen metabolism.
Details
- Title
- Glycogenin is dispensable for normal liver glycogen metabolism and body glucose homeostasis
- Authors
- Xinle Tan - The University of QueenslandGiorgia Testoni - Institute for Research in BiomedicineMitchell A Sullivan - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health - BiomedicineIliana Lopez-Soldado - Institute for Research in BiomedicineFrancisco Vilaplana - KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyRobert G Gilbert (Corresponding Author) - The University of QueenslandJoan J. Guinovart - Institute for Research in BiomedicineBenjamin L Schulz - The University of QueenslandJordi Duran - Institute for Research in Biomedicine
- Publication details
- International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, Vol.291, pp.1-13
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.139084
- ISSN
- 1879-0003
- PMID
- 39716709
- Copyright note
- © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Data Availability
- Data will be made available on request.
- Grant note
- This study was supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (MCIU/FEDER/AEI) (PID2020-118699GB-I00 to JD), and a grant from the Fundación Ramón Areces to JD. Funding was also obtained from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number C1304013151101138), and the Priority Academic Program of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions to RGG.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Health - Biomedicine
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991099246102621
- Output Type
- Journal article
Metrics
1 File views/ downloads
37 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
- Chemistry, Applied
- Polymer Science
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Source: SDGs from InCites