title: A new non-degradative method to purify glycogen.
abstract: Liver glycogen, a complex branched glucose polymer containing a small amount of protein, is important for maintaining glucose homeostasis (blood-sugar control) in humans. It has recently been found that glycogen molecular structure is impaired in diabetes. Isolating the carbohydrate polymer and any intrinsically-attached protein(s) is an essential prerequisite for studying this structural impairment. This requires an effective, non-degradative and efficient purification method to exclude the many other proteins present in liver. Proteins and glycogen have different ranges of molecular sizes. Despite the plethora of proteins that might still be present in significant abundance after other isolation techniques, SEC (size exclusion chromatography, also known as GPC), which separates by molecular size, should separate those extraneous to glycogen from glycogen with any intrinsically associated protein(s). A novel purification method is developed for this, based on preparative SEC following sucrose gradient centrifugation. Proteomics is used to show that the new method compares favourably with current methods in the literature.
authors.affiliation: Tongji School of Pharmacy, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China; The University of Queensland, Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Xinle
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: The University of Queensland, Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; Program in Genetics and Genome Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada.
authors.forename: Mitchell A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.affiliation: Tongji School of Pharmacy, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: The University of Queensland, Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia.
authors.forename: Shihan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Benjamin L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.affiliation: The University of Queensland, Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-Product Safety, College of Agriculture, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, Jiangsu Province, PR China. Electronic address: b.gilbert@uq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Robert G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Gilbert
mesh_terms: D002623:Chemistry Techniques, Analytical / Q000379:methods*; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D006003:Glycogen / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000737:chemistry*; D015394:Molecular Structure
chemical_list: D006003:Glycogen
keywords: GPC; Glycogen; Mass spectrometry; Protein; SEC