Glycogen storage disease type 0 glycogen primer. Its action is highly regulated by a mechanism of phosphorylation and dephosphorylation and modulated by counter-regulatory hormones including insulin, epinephrine, and glucagon. Mutations in the gene for liver glycogen synthetase (GYS2, 138571) result in decreased or absent activity of liver glycogen synthetase and moderately decreased amounts of structurally normal glycogen in the liver. Mutational studies of patients with glycogen-storage disease type 0 do not demonstrate correlations between genotype and phenotype. [3] A different gene (GYS1, 138570) encodes muscle glycogen synthetase, which has normal activity in patients with glycogen-storage disease type 0A. In the early stages of fasting, the
Glycogen synthase glycogen synthase is highly conserved among species, glycogen synthase likely forms a tetramer in humans as well. Glycogen synthase can be classified in two general protein families. The first family (GT3), which is from mammals and yeast, is approximately 80 kDa, uses UDP-glucose as a sugar donor, and is regulated by phosphorylation and ligand binding. The second family (GT5), which is from bacteria and plants, is approximately 50 kDA, uses ADP-glucose as a sugar donor, and is unregulated. Although the catalytic mechanisms used by glycogen synthase are not well known, structural similarities to glycogen phosphorylase at the catalytic and substrate