Structural and Functional Analysis of ADP-Glucose Pyrophosphorylase (AGPase)

Abstract

ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase) is a key enzyme and is made up of two large subunits (LS) and two small subunits (SS). This enzyme plays a crucial role in starch biosynthesis. AGPase is found in both the cytosol and the plastid. The functional unit of AGPase is as a homotetramer having 4 identical monomers. The length of a single monomer is 451bp. AGPase is encoded by two genes, Shrunken-2 (Sh2) and Brittle-2 (Bt2). The Shrunken-2 (Sh2) gene encodes regulatory larger subunits and the Brittle-2 (Bt2) gene encodes smaller subunits having catalytic properties. There is information present related to AGPase and its genes, but adequate information about the variation and diversity in the structure, evolution and function is not present.