Requirement of the self-glucosylating initiator proteins Glg1p and Glg2p for glycogen accumulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Glycogen, a branched polymer of glucose, is a storage molecule whose accumulation is under rigorous nutritional control in many cells. We report the identification of two Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes, GLG1 and GLG2, whose products are implicated in the biogenesis of glycogen. These genes encode self-glucosylating proteins that in vitro can act as primers for the elongation reaction catalyzed by glycogen synthase. Over a region of 258 residues, the Glg proteins have 55% sequence identify to each other and approximately 33% identity to glycogenin, a mammalian protein postulated to have a role in the initiation of glycogen biosynthesis. Yeast cells defective in either GLG1 or GLG2 are similar to the wild type in their ability to accumulate glycogen. Disruption of both genes results in the inability of the cells to synthesize glycogen despite normal levels of glycogen synthase. These results suggest that a self-glucosylating protein is required for glycogen biosynthesis in a eukaryotic cell. The activation state of glycogen synthase in glg1 glg2 cells is suppressed, suggesting that the Glg proteins may additionally influence the phosphorylation state of glycogen synthase.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis 46202-5122, USA.
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Cheng
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Farkas
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Huang
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Goebl
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Roach
D015061:1,4-alpha-Glucan Branching Enzyme / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017931:DNA Primers; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D005838:Genotype; D005964:Glucosyltransferases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006003:Glycogen / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D006006:Glycogen Synthase / Q000378:metabolism; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D016324:Sequence Tagged Sites
D017931:DNA Primers; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D006003:Glycogen; D005964:Glucosyltransferases; D006006:Glycogen Synthase; D015061:1,4-alpha-Glucan Branching Enzyme; C097073:Glg1 protein, S cerevisiae; C097074:Glg2 protein, S cerevisiae