Recent progress in the structure of glycogen serving as a durable energy reserve in bacteria

Liang Wang; Mengmeng Wang; Michael J Wise; Qinghua Liu; Ting Yang; Zuobin Zhu; Chengcheng Li; Xinle Tan; Daoquan Tang; Wei Wang

doi:10.1007/s11274-019-2795-6

Recent progress in the structure of glycogen serving as a durable energy reserve in bacteria

World J Microbiol Biotechnol. 2020 Jan 2;36(1):14. doi: 10.1007/s11274-019-2795-6.

Authors

Liang Wang^{1

2

3}, Mengmeng Wang^{4

5}, Michael J Wise^{6

7}, Qinghua Liu^{4

5}, Ting Yang⁸, Zuobin Zhu⁹, Chengcheng Li¹⁰, Xinle Tan^{11

12}, Daoquan Tang^{4

5}, Wei Wang^{8

13

14

15}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Bioinformatics, School of Medical Informatics and Engineering, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, 221000, Jiangsu, China. [email protected].
² Jiangsu Key Laboratory of New Drug Research and Clinical Pharmacy, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, 221000, Jiangsu, China. [email protected].
³ Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, Jiangsu, China. [email protected].
⁴ Jiangsu Key Laboratory of New Drug Research and Clinical Pharmacy, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, 221000, Jiangsu, China.
⁵ Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, School of Pharmacy, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, 221000, Jiangsu, China.
⁶ The Marshall Centre for Infectious Diseases Research and Training, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia.
⁷ Computer Science and Software Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia.
⁸ Department of Bioinformatics, School of Medical Informatics and Engineering, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, 221000, Jiangsu, China.
⁹ Department of Genetics, School of Life Science, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, 221000, Jiangsu, China.
¹⁰ Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, Jiangsu, China.
¹¹ School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia.
¹² Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia.
¹³ School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA, 6027, Australia.
¹⁴ The First Affiliated Hospital, Medical College of Shantou University, Shantou, 515041, Guangdong, China.
¹⁵ School of Public Health, Taishan Medical University, Tai'an, 271000, Shandong, China.

PMID: 31897771
DOI: 10.1007/s11274-019-2795-6

Abstract

Glycogen is conventionally considered as a transient energy reserve that can be rapidly synthesized for glucose accumulation and mobilized for ATP production. However, this conception is not completely applicable to prokaryotes due to glycogen structural heterogeneity. A number of studies noticed that glycogen with small average chain length g_c in bacteria has the potential to degrade slowly, which might prolong bacterial environment survival. This phenomenon was previously examined and later formulated as the durable energy storage mechanism hypothesis. Although recent research has been warming to the hypothesis, experimental validation is still missing at current stage. In this review, we summarized recent progress of the hypothesis, provided a supporting mathematical model, and explored the technical pitfalls that shall be avoided in glycogen study.

Keywords: Average chain length; Degradation; Environmental persistence; Glycogen; Size exclusion chromatography; β Particle.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Adenosine Triphosphate / metabolism
Bacteria / chemistry
Bacteria / growth & development*
Bacteria / metabolism
Carbohydrate Sequence
Energy Metabolism
Glucose / metabolism*
Glycogen / chemistry*
Microbial Viability
Models, Theoretical

Substances

Adenosine Triphosphate
Glycogen
Glucose

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding