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Updated: Mar 16, 2026

Concanavalin A-Based Sedimentation Assay to Measure Substrate Binding of Glucan Phosphatases
Published on: December 23, 2022
Structural biology of glucan phosphatases from humans to plants
Matthew S Gentry1, M Kathryn Brewer1, Craig W Vander Kooi1
1Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry and Center for Structural Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, United States.
Abstract:
Glucan phosphatases are functionally conserved at the enzymatic level, dephosphorylating glycogen in animals and starch in plants. The human glucan phosphatase laforin is the founding member of the family and it is comprised of a carbohydrate binding module (CBM) domain followed by a dual specificity phosphatase (DSP) domain. Plants encode two glucan phosphatases: Starch EXcess4 (SEX4) and Like Sex Four2 (LSF2). SEX4 contains a DSP domain followed by a CBM domain, while LSF2 contains a DSP domain and lacks a CBM. This review demonstrates how glucan phosphatase function is conserved and highlights how each family member employs a unique mechanism to bind and dephosphorylate glucan substrates.
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