Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 16, 2026

Concanavalin A-Based Sedimentation Assay to Measure Substrate Binding of Glucan Phosphatases
Published on: December 23, 2022
Assessing the Biological Activity of the Glucan Phosphatase Laforin
Carlos Romá-Mateo1,2, Madushi Raththagala3, Mathew S Gentry3
1Department of Physiology, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Valencia and FIHCUV-INCLIVA, Valencia, Spain.
Abstract:
Glucan phosphatases are a recently discovered family of enzymes that dephosphorylate either starch or glycogen and are essential for proper starch metabolism in plants and glycogen metabolism in humans. Mutations in the gene encoding the only human glucan phosphatase, laforin, result in the fatal, neurodegenerative, epilepsy known as Lafora disease. Here, we describe phosphatase assays to assess both generic laforin phosphatase activity and laforin's unique glycogen phosphatase activity.

