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Characterization of glycogen molecular structure in the worm Caenorhabditis elegans
- Source :
- Carbohydrate Polymers. 237:116181
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Glycogen, a glucose homopolymer with many glucose chains, is the primary blood-sugar reservoir in many organisms. It comprises β particles (∼20 nm) which can bind together to form large α particles with a rosette morphology. When dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is added to glycogen from diabetic livers, α particles break apart to β particles (‘fragility’), possibly due to H-bond disruption; this is not seen in healthy livers. Glycogen α and β particles, and α-particle fragility, are observed in mammals and bacteria, and are examined here in the worm Caenorhabditis elegans, with glycogen from two C. elegans strains, cultured in normal and high-glucose conditions. There were mainly β particles, with some large α particles. Most particles were fragile in DMSO. Growing in a high-glucose medium results in more long chains and more fragility, consistent with previous observations in diabetic animal models. Why high glucose levels facilitate fragility is worthy of further investigation.
- Subjects :
- Polymers and Plastics
02 engineering and technology
010402 general chemistry
01 natural sciences
Rosette (botany)
chemistry.chemical_compound
Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
Materials Chemistry
Animals
Molecule
Dimethyl Sulfoxide
Caenorhabditis elegans
Molecular Structure
Glycogen
biology
Dimethyl sulfoxide
Organic Chemistry
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
biology.organism_classification
0104 chemical sciences
chemistry
Biochemistry
High glucose
Chromatography, Gel
0210 nano-technology
α particles
Bacteria
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 01448617
- Volume :
- 237
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Carbohydrate Polymers
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....e9e6f103af56c75a7bf7b9a6a4aa78ff