Biosynthesis of glycogen in Neurospora crassa. Purification and properties of the branching enzyme

A branching enzyme was extracted from the mycelia of Neurospora crassa and was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity by procedures including DEAE-Sephacel column chromatography, 6-aminohexyl-Sepharose 4B column chromatography and gel filtration on Toyopearl HW-55S. The final yield of the branching enzyme activity was 15.1%, and the final purified enzyme preparation showed a specific activity of 702 units per mg of protein. The molecular weight of this enzyme was estimated to be 80,000 by electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel. The amino acid composition and the carbohydrate content of this enzyme were analyzed. The isoelectric point of this enzyme determined by polyacrylamide gel isoelectrofocusing was 5.6. The branching activity of the enzyme was confirmed by its action on amylopectin as well as by the combined action of this enzyme and N. crassa glycogen synthase. The action of this enzyme on amylopectin decreased the wavelength of the absorption maximum of the glucan-iodine complex, and increased the amount of the short unit chains of the debranched product. The product obtained by the combined action yielded beta-limit dextrin upon hydrolysis with beta-amylase. No multiplicity was found for the branching activity either by chromatography or by electrophoresis.     

Amylopectin Synthase of Eimeria tenella: Identification and Kinetic Characterization

ABSTRACT. A soluble enzyme amylopectin synthase (UDP-glucose-α 1,4-glucan α-4-glucosyltransferase) which transfers glucose from uridine 5'-diphosphate glucose (UDP-glucose) to a primer to form α-I,4-glucosyl linkages has been identified in the extracts of unsporulated oocysts of Eimeria tenella . UDP-glucose and not ADP-glucose was the most active glucosyl donor. Corn amylopectin, rabbit liver glycogen, oyster glycogen and corn starch served as primers; the latter two were less efficient. The enzyme has an apparent pH optimum of 7.5 and exhibited typical Michaelis-Menten kinetics with dependence on both the primer and substrate concentrations. The Michaelis constants (Km). with respect to UDP-glucose, was 0.5 mM; and 0.25 mg/ml and 1.25 mg/ml with respect to amylopectin and rabbit liver glycogen. The product formed by the reaction was predominantly a glucan containing α-1,4 linkages. The specificity of the enzyme suggests that this enzyme is similar to glycogen synthase in eukaryotes and has been designated as amylopectin synthase (UDP-glucose-α-1,4-glucosetransferase EC 2.4.1.11).     

Biosynthesis of glycogen in Neurospora crassa. Existence of a glucoproteic intermediate in the initiation process.

A soluble enzyme preparation (20,000 X g supernatant fraction), prepared from the mycelia of wild-type Neurospora crassa, was capable of transferring [14C]glucose from UDP-[14C]glucose into both trichloroacetic acid (TCA)-soluble and TCA-insoluble macromolecule products in the absence of added primer. These reactions did not require either high concentrations of salts or any other chemical reagents. Two labeled products were formed; one was a glycogen-like polysaccharide and the other was a glycoprotein with glucosyl chains bound to protein through an acid-labile bond. After mild treatment of the glucoprotein with acid, the product liberated from the protein behaved as a mixture of malto-oligosaccharides and alpha-1,4-glucan with branches. The carbohydrate moiety of the glucoprotein seemed to be released upon prolonged incubation with the enzyme preparation. The glucan thus liberated from the glucoprotein may serve as a primer for the glycogen synthase. The results obtained are therefore suggestive of the existence of a glucoproteic intermediate in the initiation of glycogen biosynthesis.     

On the affinity of rabbit-muscle glycogen phosphorylase for highly branched macromolecular subtrates

The rapid actions of mammalian muscle phosphorylases on glycogen and amylopectin may not result from their high affinity for the polysaccharide unit chains but from the high concentration of chain ends at the polysaccharide surface. When set free by the debranching action of pullulanase the linear unit chains of amylopectin are acted on at a low rate by the mammalian enzymes in contrast to the rapid rate of reaction catalyzed by potato phosphorylase. These findings suggest that the conformation of the active site of the mammalian phosphorylases compensates for the weak binding of individual chain ends by allowing the enzyme to act, without hindrance, on the densely packed polysaccharide chain ends at a near-maximum velocity.     

Biosynthesis of glycogen in Neurospora crassa. Purification and properties of the UDPglucose:glycogen 4-alpha-glucosyltransferase.

The Neurospora crassa glycogen synthase (UDPglucose:glycogen 4-alpha-glucosyltransferase, EC 2.4.1.11) was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity by a procedure involving ultracentrifugation, DEAE-cellulose column chromatography, (NH4)2SO4 fractionation and 3-aminopropyl-Sepharose column chromatography. The final purified enzyme preparation was almost entirely dependent on glucose-6-P and had a specific activity of 6.9 units per mg of protein. The subunit molecular weight of the glycogen synthase was determined by electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel to be 88 000--90 000. The native enzyme was shown to have a molecular weight of 270 000 as determined by sucrose density gradient centrifugation. Thus, the glucose-6-P-dependent form of the N. crassa glycogen synthase can exist as trimer of the subunit. Limited proteolysis with trypsin or chymotrypsin converted the glucose-6-P-dependent form of the enzyme into an apparent glucose-6-P-independent form. The enzyme was shown to catalyze transfer of glucose from UDPglucose to glycogen as well as to its phosphorylase limit dextrin, but not to its beta-amylase limit dextrin. Moreover, glucose, maltose and maltotriose were not active as acceptors.     

GNN is a self-glucosylating protein involved in the initiation step of glycogen biosynthesis in Neurospora crassa

The initiation of glycogen synthesis requires the protein glycogenin, which incorporates glucose residues through a self-glucosylation reaction, and then acts as substrate for chain elongation by glycogen synthase and branching enzyme. Numerous sequences of glycogenin-like proteins are available in the databases but the enzymes from mammalian skeletal muscle and from Saccharomyces cerevisiae are the best characterized. We report the isolation of a cDNA from the fungus Neurospora crassa, which encodes a protein, GNN, which has properties characteristic of glycogenin. The protein is one of the largest glycogenins but shares several conserved domains common to other family members. Recombinant GNN produced in Escherichia coli was able to incorporate glucose in a self-glucosylation reaction, to trans-glucosylate exogenous substrates, and to act as substrate for chain elongation by glycogen synthase. Recombinant protein was sensitive to C-terminal proteolysis, leading to stable species of around 31kDa, which maintained all functional properties. The role of GNN as an initiator of glycogen metabolism was confirmed by its ability to complement the glycogen deficiency of a S. cerevisiae strain (glg1 glg2) lacking glycogenin and unable to accumulate glycogen. Disruption of the gnn gene of N. crassa by repeat induced point mutation (RIP) resulted in a strain that was unable to synthesize glycogen, even though the glycogen synthase activity was unchanged. Northern blot analysis showed that the gnn gene was induced during vegetative growth and was repressed upon carbon starvation.     

Combined action of Escherichia coli glycogen synthase and branching enzyme in the so-called "unprimed" polyglucoside synthesis.

Mutants of Escherichia coli which are unable to synthesize glycogen were used to study the so-called “unprimed” synthesis of glycogen. The glycogen synthase has been partially purified from these mutants. During the purification, attempts were made to separate the activity which requires the addition of an exogenous primer (primed activity) from the activity which does not require a primer but is highly dependent on the presence of some salts such as citrate and EDTA (unprimed activity). No separation between these two activities could be achieved but the results obtained by chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex indicate that there is a single form of glycogen synthase which is responsible for both unprimed and primed activity. The evidence that a single protein was necessary to catalyze these two reactions was given by the findings that mutants defective in glycogen synthase activity were unable to catalyze glucosyl transfer without added primer. At low concentration, the glycogen synthase purified from a branching enzyme negative mutant catalyzed the unprimed reaction at a slow rate even in presence of salts. A protein activator of this reaction was found in mutants lacking glycogen synthase but not in mutants lacking branching enzyme. The hypothesis that this activator is the branching enzyme itself was supported by the observation that it co-purified with the branching enzyme from a E. coli strain defective in glycogen synthase activity. EDTA or Triton X-100 increased the stimulation of the unprimed synthesis by the branching enzyme. The apparent affinity of the glycogen synthase for glycogen was increased twofold in the presence of EDTA but the branching enzyme further increased the effect of EDTA. The combined action of the glycogen synthase and the branching enzyme on the endogenous glucan associated with the synthase may account for the unprimed activity observed in vitro.     

Studies of the residual glycogen branching enzyme activity present in human skin fibroblasts from patients with Type IV glycogen storage disease

Human skin fibroblasts from patients with Type IV glycogen storage disease, in which there is a demonstrable deficiency of glycogen branching enzyme, were shown to be able to synthesize [¹⁴C]glycogen containing [¹⁴C]glucose at branch points when sonicates containing endogenous glycogen synthase $\text{a}$ were incubated with UDP[¹⁴C]glucose. The branch point content of the glycogen synthesized by the Type IV cells was essentially the same as that formed by normal cells, but the total synthetic capacity of the Type IV cells was lower. A new assay for the branching enzyme using glycogen synthase as the indicator enzyme has been developed. Using this assay it has been shown that the residual branching enzyme of affected children and of their heterozygote parents is less easily inhibited by an IgG antibody raised in rabbits against the normal human liver enzyme than is the branching enzyme of normal fibroblasts.     

Soluble starch synthases and starch branching enzymes from developing seeds of sorghum

Soluble starch synthases and branching enzymes have been partially purified from developing sorghum seeds. Two major fractions and one minor fraction of starch synthase were eluted on DEAE-cellulose chromatography. The minor enzyme eluted first and was similar to the early eluting major synthase in citrate-stimulated activity, faster reaction rates with glycogen primers than amylopectin primers, and in K_m for ADP-glucose (0.05 and 0.08 mM, respectively). The starch synthase peak eluted last had no citrate-stimulated activity, was equally active with glycogen and amylopectin primers, and had the highest K_m for ADP-glucose (0.10 mM). Four fractions of branching enzymes were recovered from DEAE-cellulose chromatography. One fraction eluted in the buffer wash; the other three co-eluted with the three starch synthases. All four fractions could branch amylose or amylopectin, and stimulated α-glucan synthesis catalysed by phosphorylase. Electrophoretic separation and activity staining for starch synthase of crude extracts and DEAE-cellulose fractions demonstrated complex banding patterns. The colour of the bands after iodine staining indicated that branching enzyme and starch synthase co-migrated during electrophoresis.     

Biosynthesis of bacterial glycogen. Purification and properties of the Escherichia coli B ADPglucose:1,4-alpha-D-glucan 4-alpha-glucosyltransferase.

The Escherichia coli B glycogen synthase has been purified to apparent homogeneity with the use of a 4-aminobutyl-Sepharose column. Two fractions of the enzyme were obtained: glycogen synthase I with a specific activity of 380 mumol mg-1 and devoid of branching enzyme activity and glycogen synthase II having a specific activity of 505 mumol mg-1 and containing branching enzyme activity which was 0.1% of the activity observed for the glycogen synthase. Only one protein band was found in disc gel electrophoresis for each glycogen synthase fraction and they were coincident with glycogen synthase activity. One major protein band and one very faint protein band which hardly moved into the gel were observed in sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis of the glycogen synthase fractions. The subunit molecular weight of the major protein band in sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis of both glycogen synthase fractions was determined to be 49 000 +/- 2 000. The molecular weights of the native enzymes were determined by sucrose density gradient ultracentrifugation. Glycogen synthase I had a molecular weight of 93 000 while glycogen synthase II had a molecular weight of 200 000. On standing at 4 degrees C or at -85 degrees C both enzymes transform into species having molecular weights of 98 000, 135 000, and 185 000. Thus active forms of the E. coli B glycogen synthase can exist as dimers, trimers, and tetramers of the subunit. The enzyme was shown to catalyze transfer of glucose from ADPglucose to maltose and to higher oligosaccharides of the maltodextrin series but not to glucose. 1,5-Gluconolactone was shown to be a potent inhibitor of the glycogen synthase reaction. The glycogen synthase reaction was shown to be reversible. Formation of labeled ADPglucose occurred from either [14C]ADP or [14C]glycogen. The ratio of ADP to ADPglucose at equilibrium at 37 degrees C was determined and was found to vary threefold in the pH range of 5.27-6.82. From these data the ratio of ADP2- to ADPglucose at equilibrium was determined to be 45.8 +/- 4.5. Assuming that deltaF degrees of the hydrolysis of the alpha-1,4-glucosidic linkage is -4.0 kcal the deltaF degrees of hydrolysis of the glucosidic linkage in ADPglucose is -6.3 kcal.     

Biosynthesis of glycogen in Neurospora crassa. Kinetic mechanism of UDP-glucose: glycogen 4-alpha-glucosyltransferase.

The kinetic mechanism of glycogen synthase [UDP-glucose: glycogen 4-alpha-glucosyltransferase, EC 2.4.1.11], glucose-6-P-dependent form, from Neurospora crassa has been investigated by initial velocity experiments and studies with inhibitors in the presence of sufficient levels of glucose-6-P. The rate equation was different from those of common two-substrate systems because one of the substrates, glycogen, is also a product. The reaction rates were determined by varying the concentration of one of the substrates while keeping that of the other constant. Double-reciprocal plots of initial velocity measurements were linear and showed converging line patterns. UDP was found to act competitively when the substrate UDP-glucose was varied, but noncompetitively when glycogen was varied. On the basis of these results, it is concluded that glycogen synthase, glucose-6-P-dependent form, from N. crassa has a rapid equilibrium random Bi-Bi mechanism. Rate constant and dissociation constants for each step of this mechanism were estimated.     

Multiple branching in glycogen and amylopectin

The β-amylase limit dextrins of glycogen and amylopectin are completely debranched by joint action of isoamylase and pullulanase. Action of isoamylase alone results in incomplete debranching as a consequence of the inability of this enzyme to hydrolyze those A-chains that are two glucose units in length (half the total number of A-chains). From the reducing powers released by isoamylase acting (a) alone and (b) in conjunction with pullulanase, the relative numbers of A- (unsubstituted) and B- (substituted) chains in the β-dextrins, and therefore in the native polysaccharides themselves, can be calculated. Examination of a series of glycogens and amylopectins in this way showed that the ratio of A-chains: B-chains is markedly higher in amylopectins (1.5–2.6:1) than in glycogens (0.6–1.2:1). Glycogen typically contains A-chains and B-chains in approximately equal numbers; amylopectin typically contains approximately twice as many A-chains as B-chains. These polysaccharides therefore differ in degree of multiple branching as well as in average chain length. A consequence of these findings is that amylopectin cannot be formed in vivo by debranching of a glycogen precursor, as proposed by Erlander, since it is impossible to increase the A:B chain ratio by action of a debranching enzyme.     

An analysis of soluble starch synthase isozymes from the developing grains of normal and shx cv. Bomi barley (Hordeum vulgare)

Soluble starch synthase (SSS, EC 2.4.1.21) catalyzes formation of the α-1,4 bonds of amylopectin. It occurs in multiple isozymes which are either type I, primer-independent in the presence of citrate, or type II. always primer-dependent. To analyze the enzyme. a sensitive native gel assay was developed, monitoring ADP-[¹⁴C]glucose incorporation into insoluble α-glucan in the presence of either sodium citrate or glycogen primer or both. Using this system, we observed multiple type I and type II forms in developing grains of barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) cv. Bomi, the relative activities of which vary with seed development. At least one form comigrates in native gels with starch branching enzyme. Assays of the shx mutant, which is severely reduced in starch accumulation and in type I SSS activity, indicate that one type I isozyme becomes primer-dependent.     

A study of the reaction catalysed by the liver branching enzyme

The mechanism of action of liver branching enzyme has been studied by using as substrate two polysaccharides in which the non-reducing ends had been labelled by incubation with phosphorylase and a trace amount of [¹⁴C]glucose 1-phosphate. After these polysaccharides had been treated with branching enzyme, their structure was analysed by periodate oxidation, by degradation with phosphorylase and amylo-(1→6)-glucosidase and by degradation with pullulanase. All the results indicate that the branching enzyme catalyses the transfer from (1→4)- to (1→6)-linkage of a chain of glucose units, the minimum length of which is six glucose units. A maltodextrin containing 16 glucose units was not acted on by the branching enzyme.     

The mechanism of Q-enzyme action and its influence on the structure of amylopectin

Q-Enzyme is responsible for the synthesis of the 1,6-branch linkages in amylopectin. Its action on a model amylodextrin containing a single branch linkage has been studied. It is concluded that the enzymic process whereby the branch linkages of amylopectin are synthesized is a random action of the branching enzyme on a complex—possibly a double helix—formed between two 1,4-α-glucan chains. This action pattern predicts a novel arrangement of the units chains in amylopectin.     

A self-glucosylating protein is the primer for rabbit muscle glycogen biosynthesis

In this paper we elucidate part of the mechanism of the early stages of the biosynthesis of glycogen. This macromolecule is constructed by covalent apposition of glucose units to a protein, glycogenin, which remains covalently attached to the mature glycogen molecule. We have now isolated, in a 3500-fold purification, a protein from rabbit muscle that has the same Mr as glycogenin, is immunologically similar, and proves to be a self-glucosylating protein (SGP). When incubated with UDP-[14C]glucose, an average of one molecular proportion of glucose is incorporated into the protein, which we conclude is the same as glycogenin isolated from native glycogen. The native SGP appears to exist as a high-molecular-weight species that contains many identical subunits. Because the glucose that is self-incorporated can be released almost completely from the acceptor by glycogenolytic enzymes, the indication is that it was added to a preformed chain or chains of 1,4-linked alpha-glucose residues. This implies that SGP already carries an existing maltosaccharide chain or chains to which the glucose is added, rather than glucose being added directly to protein. The putative role of SGP in glycogen synthesis is confirmed by the fact that glucosylated SGP acts as a primer for glycogen synthase and branching enzyme to form high-molecular-weight material. SGP itself is completely free from glycogen synthase. The quantity of SGP in muscle is calculated to be about one-half the amount of glycogenin bound in glycogen.     

Glucagon and glucose as major regulators of glycogen metabolism in primary cultured rat hepatocytes

The short-term controls of glycogen synthase [EC 2.4.1.11] and glycogen phosphorylase [EC 2.4.1.1] by major regulators, such as insulin, glucose, catecholamine, and glucagon, were compared in a simple, yet organized experimental system, i.e., adult rat hepatocytes in primary culture. Glycogen synthase was activated by glucose markedly and dose-dependently (5-40 mM), but insulin alone (1 X 10(-8) M) activated this enzyme only two-fold. Therefore, activation of the enzyme by the two regulators together was mostly due to activation by glucose. Glucagon at a concentration of 5 X 10(-10) M suppressed this activation almost completely. Glucagon at this concentration activated phosphorylase considerably and this activation was slightly inhibited by insulin. Phenylephrine also activated phosphorylase, and this activation was inhibited by phenoxybenzamine or prazosin, suggesting that activation by catecholamine is through the alpha 1-adrenergic receptor. Similarly a high concentration of glucose diminished the effects of glucagon and phenylephrine. These results suggest that in rat liver, glycogen metabolism is controlled mainly by glucagon, catecholamine, and glucose; the former two activate phosphorylase and inactivate synthase, while glucose activates synthase strongly and inactivates phosphorylase partially. Insulin plays a minor role in both reactions. Thus, the liver is primarily an organ for glucose production, which is regulated by hormones, not for glycogen storage, which is increased only by a high glucose concentration in the portal blood.     

Kinetic studies of the (1 linked to 4)-alpha-D-glucopyranosyltransferase reaction catalyzed by cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase, particularly the cyclization with amylose, amylopectin and total starch as substrate

The time course of the (1 leads to 4)-alpha-D-glucopyranosyltransfer reactions catalyzed by the cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase ((1 leads to 4)-alpha-D-glucan: [(1 leads to 4)-alpha-D-glucopyranosyl]transferase (cyclizing), EC 2.4.1.19, CGT) from Klebsiella pneumoniae was studied with several commercial amyloses, potato starch, and amylopectin, respectively. Amyloses were poor substrates for the cyclization reaction. In the initial phase of the transfer reactions, the CGT catalyzed a rapid shortening of the amylose chains. The rate of this shortening reaction was significantly accelerated by addition of maltooligosaccharides. Maximum rate of cyclohexaamylose formation was reached with amylose chains sufficiently short (less than Glc100) for the cyclization reaction. Cyclohexaamylose was formed with maximum rate from amyloses containing amylopectin impurities in the initial phase of the transfer reactions, suggesting that the non-reducing ends of the outer amylopectin chains serve as acceptors for the disproportionation of the amylose. Accordingly, water-soluble, high-molecular-weight products containing higher percentages of lengthened outer-chains were obtained from potato starch or amylopectin. In the course of the transfer reactions, only traces of smaller maltooligosaccharides were detected chromatographically.     

Overexpression of glycogen synthase in mouse muscle results in less branched glycogen

Glycogen, a branched polymer of glucose, serves as an energy reserve in many organisms. The degree of branching likely reflects the balance between the activities of glycogen synthase and branching enzyme. Mice overexpressing constitutively active glycogen synthase in skeletal muscle (GSL30) have elevated muscle glycogen. To test whether excess glycogen synthase activity affected glycogen branching, we examined the glycogen from skeletal muscle of GSL30 mice. The absorption spectrum of muscle glycogen determined in the presence of iodine was shifted to higher wavelengths in the GSL30 animals, consistent with a decrease in the degree of branching. As judged by Western blotting, the levels of glycogenin and the branching enzyme were also elevated. Branching enzyme activity also increased approximately threefold. However, this compared with an increase in glycogen synthase of some 50-fold, so that the increase in branching enzyme in response to overexpression of glycogen synthase was insufficient to synthesize normally branched glycogen.     

Properties of Citrate-stimulated Starch Synthesis Catalyzed by Starch Synthase I of Developing Maize Kernels

Chromatography of extracts of maize on diethylaminoethyl-cellulose resolves starch synthase activity into two fractions (Ozbun, Hawker, Preiss 1971 Plant Physiol 48: 785-769). Only starch synthase I is capable of synthesis in the absence of added primer and the presence of 0.5 molar citrate. This enzyme fraction has been purified about 1,000-fold from maize kernels homozygous for the endosperm mutant amylose-extender (ae). Because ae endosperm lacks the starch-branching enzyme which normally purifies with starch synthase I, the final enzyme fraction was free of detectable branching enzyme activity. This allowed a detailed characterization of the citrate-stimulated reaction. The citrate-stimulated reaction was dependent upon citrate concentrations of greater than 0.1 molar. However, the reaction is not specific for citrate and malate also stimulated the reaction. Branching enzyme increased the velocity of the reaction about 4-fold but did not replace the requirement for citrate. Citrate reduced the K_m for the primers amylopectin and glycogen from 122 and 595 micrograms per milliliter, respectively, to 6 and 50 micrograms per milliliter, respectively. The enzyme was found to contain 1.7 milligrams of anhydroglucose units per enzyme unit. Thus reaction mixtures contained 1 to 5 micrograms (5 to 25 micrograms per milliliter) of endogenous primer. The citrate-stimulated reaction could be explained by an increased affinity for this endogenous primer. The starch synthase reaction in the absence of primer is dependent upon several factors including endogenous primer concentration, citrate concentration as well as branching enzyme concentration.