Branching enzyme is an enzyme involved in the synthesis of glycogen. Glycogen is made of several glucose units put together. One "unit" in glycogen is made of about 12 glucose molecules, at the twelfth molecule, a new "unit" is branched off from the previous one, consisting of 12 more glucose molecules. Glucose is linked to other individual glucoses by alpha 1,4 linkages. The placement of one glucose to another is catalyzed by the enzyme glycogen synthase. At a branching point, though, the linkages are not alpha 1,4 they are alpha 1,6, and therefore another enzyme is needed for the addition of an entire glucose unit, and this enzyme is branching enzyme. Branching enzyme attaches a string of seven glucose residues to the sixth carbon of a glucose molecule, usually in an interior location.
