Glycogen store roughly 100–120 grams of glycogen. In skeletal muscle, glycogen is found in a low concentration (1–2% of the muscle mass) and the skeletal muscle of an adult weighing 70 kg stores roughly 400 grams of glycogen. The amount of glycogen stored in the body—particularly within the muscles and liver—mostly depends on physical training, basal metabolic rate, and eating habits. Small amounts of glycogen are also found in other tissues and cells, including the kidneys, red blood cells, white blood cells, and glial cells in the brain. The uterus also stores glycogen during pregnancy to nourish the embryo. Approximately 4
Glycogen synthase binding site suggest that the mechanism for synthesis is similar in glycogen synthase and glycogen phosphorylase. Glycogen synthase catalyzes the conversion of the glucosyl (Glc) moiety of uridine diphosphate glucose (UDP-Glc) into glucose to be incorporated into glycogen via an α(1→4) glycosidic bond. However, since glycogen synthase requires an oligosaccharide primer as a glucose acceptor, it relies on glycogenin to initiate "de novo" glycogen synthesis. In a recent study of transgenic mice, an overexpression of glycogen synthase and an overexpression of phosphatase both resulted in excess glycogen storage levels. This suggests that glycogen synthase plays an important biological role in