Glycogen, function structure

Glycoconjugate, 991 Glycogen, function of, 1001 structure of, 1001 Glycol, 234, 662 Glycolic acid, pKa of, 756 structure of, 753 Glycolipid, 991... 

Starch is the principal food reserve of plants, glycogen functions as a carbohydrate reserve for animals, and cellulose serves as structural material in plants. 

Among the polysaccharides of animal origin, the storage homopolysaccharide glycogen and structural homopolysaccharide chitin are important. In addition to these homopolysaccharides, animal tissues contain many other heteropolysaccharides, which have structural, protective and other functions. 

John.son, L. N., and Barford, D., 1993. The effects of pho.sphorylation on the. structure and function of proteins. Annual Review of Biophysics and Biomolecular Structure 22 199-232. A review of protein pho.sphorylation and its role in regrdation of enzymatic activity, with particular empha.sis on glycogen pho.sphoryla.se. 

Fig. 2. Macroscopic and microscopic structure of muscle (a) Entire muscle and its cross-section with fatty septa, (b) Fascicle with several muscle fibres (cells). A layer of fat along the fascicle is indicated, (c) Striated myofibre corresponding with one single muscle cell containing several nuclei. The lengths of a myofibre can be several tens of centimetres, (d) Myofibril inside a myocyte. It is one contractile element and contains actin and myosin and further proteins important for the muscular function, (e) Electron myograph of human skeletal muscle showing the band structure caused by the contractile myofilaments in the sarcomeres. One nucleus (Nu) and small glycogen granules (arrow, size <0.1 pm) are indicated.

In terms of function, polysaccharides fall into one of two groups structural and nutritional. For example, cellulose is a principal structural component of plants. Glycogen and starch, in contrast, are nutritional reservoirs for animals and plants, respectively. Monosaccharides may be mobilized from storage reservoirs such as glycogen and starch and then be metabolized to generate energy. 

Diacylglycerol, on the other hand, is lipid soluble and remains in the lipid bilayer of the membrane. There it can activate protein kinase C (PKC), a very important and widely distributed enzyme which serves many systems through phosphorylation, including neurotransmitters (acetylcholine, a,- and P-adrenoceptors, serotonin), peptide hormones (insulin, epidermal growth hormone, somatomedin), and various cellular functions (glycogen metabolism, muscle activity, structural proteins, etc.), and also interacts with guanylate cyclase. In addition to diacylglycerol, another normal membrane lipid, phos-phatidylserine, is needed for activation of PKC. The DG-IP3 limbs of the pathway usually proceed simultaneously. 

Vitamin B6 occurs naturally in three related forms pyridoxine (6.26 the alcohol form), pyridoxal (6.27 aldehyde) and pyridoxamine (6.28 amine). All are structurally related to pyridine. The active co-enzyme form of this vitamin is pyridoxal phosphate (PLP 6.29), which is a co-factor for transaminases which catalyse the transfer of amino groups (6.29). PLP is also important for amino acid decarboxylases and functions in the metabolism of glycogen and the synthesis of sphingolipids in the nervous system. In addition, PLP is involved in the formation of niacin from tryptophan (section 6.3.3) and in the initial synthesis of haem. 

Observation of an abnormally large shift in the position of fluorescent emission of pyridoxal phosphate (PLP) in glycogen phosphorylase answered an interesting chemical question.187188 A 330 nm (30,300 cm ) absorption band could be interpreted either as arising from an adduct of some enzyme functional group with the Schiff base of PLP and a lysine side chain (structure A) or as a nonionic tautomer of a Schiff base in a hydrophobic environment (structure B, Eq. 23-24). For structure A, the fluorescent emission would be expected at a position similar to that of pyridoxamine. On the other hand, Schiff bases of the... 

Fig. 62. Chemical structure of a section of a glycogen molecule. The letters A, B, C, D denote the functional groups95 ...

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