Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Miami School Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA.
Glycogen synthesis, whether in mammalian tissue, yeast, or Agrobacterium tumefaciens or other bacteria, is initiated by autoglucosylation of a protein. Initiation in muscle, by a self-glucosylating protein, glycogenin-1, is the most thoroughly studied system, as is described here. These relatively recent findings have prompted a rekindling of interest in the intermediates lying between the primer and mature mammalian glycogen.