Biological macromolecules glycogen

The fact that glycogen phosphorylase can be used to polymerize amylose was first demonstrated by Schaffner and Specht [110] in 1938 using yeast phosphorylase. Shortly after, the same behavior was also observed for other phosphorylases from yeast by Kiessling [111, 112], muscles by Cori et al. [113], pea seeds [114] and potatoes by Hanes [115], and preparations from liver by Ostern and Holmes [116], Cori et al. [117] and Ostern et al. [118]. These results opened up the field of enzymatic polymerizations of amylose using glucose-1-phosphate as monomer, and can be considered the first experiments ever to synthesize biological macromolecules in vitro. 

Since then we have learned that water constitutes 50-80% ofliving plants and animals. However, biological water should not be regarded as a space filler. Such a concept would be erroneous because many of the special properties of living matter result from the peculiar properties of water. To think of macromolecules (such as glycogen, protein, and nucleic acids) and water as two separate entities is to ignore the close interaction between water and macromolecules. Moreover, as a solvent water plays an important part in distributing ions inside and outside the cell. 

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