Function
Glycogen is a branching polymer of large numbers of glucose units linked together. The structure is based on chains of glucose units with α(1→4) glycosidic bonds between carbon atoms 1 and 4 of each pair of units. These linkages are catalyzed by the enzyme glycogen synthase.
Every 10 to 14 glucose units, a side branch with an additional chain of glucose units occurs. The side chain attaches at carbon atom 6 of a glucose unit, and the linkage is termed an α(1→6) glycosidic bond. This connection is catalyzed by a branching enzyme. A branching enzyme attaches a string of seven glucose units to the sixth carbon of a glucose unit, usually in an interior location of the glycogen molecule.
Read more about this topic: Glycogen Branching Enzyme
Famous quotes containing the word function:
“To make us feel small in the right way is a function of art; men can only make us feel small in the wrong way.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)
“The intension of a proposition comprises whatever the proposition entails: and it includes nothing else.... The connotation or intension of a function comprises all that attribution of this predicate to anything entails as also predicable to that thing.”
—Clarence Lewis (1883–1964)
“The fact remains that the human being in early childhood learns to consider one or the other aspect of bodily function as evil, shameful, or unsafe. There is not a culture which does not use a combination of these devils to develop, by way of counterpoint, its own style of faith, pride, certainty, and initiative.”
—Erik H. Erikson (1904–1994)