Abstract

Molecular mechanisms behind structural alterations between fragile and stable glycogen α particles in liver are not clear yet. In this pilot study, we re-examined the diurnal alterations of glycogen structure from the perspective of liver tissue transcriptome . By comparing the structures of liver glycogen from mice at 12 am, 8 am, 12 pm, and 8 pm (light-on: 6 am; light-off: 6 pm), we re-confirmed that the liver glycogen was fragile at 12 am and 8 am and stable at 12 pm and 8 pm as previously reported. The structural differences of glycogen particles at 12 am and 12 pm were thoroughly compared via transcriptomics . Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with statistical significance were identified, while expression level of the gene ppp1r3g (log 2 Fold_Change = −6.368, P -value = 2.89E−04) that encoded PPP1R3G with glycogen binding domain was most significantly changed, which provided preliminary clues to the structural alterations of glycogen α particles during the diurnal cycle.