Scientists Find Hidden Sugar Control System in Human Body

Scientists just found a control system for sugar inside our cells that nobody knew existed, and it could change how we treat some of the world's most common diseases.

Researchers at Australia's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute uncovered something remarkable. A molecule called ubiquitin, long known for marking proteins for breakdown, also attaches directly to glycogen, the sugar our bodies store for energy.

This discovery breaks a fundamental rule that scientists have followed for decades. Ubiquitin was only supposed to work with proteins, not sugars.

"It's quite likely biology books will need to be amended as a result of our findings," said Professor David Komander, who led the study. The team identified an entirely separate mechanism controlling glycogen that works alongside the pathway we've known about for years.

The reason this stayed hidden for so long comes down to technology. Scientists had no way to detect ubiquitin on sugars because all their tools were designed to find it on proteins only.

So the WEHI team built their own tool. They developed a method called NoPro-clipping that uses mass spectrometry to spot ubiquitin attached to non-protein molecules.

Once they could see what was always there, more surprises emerged. Ubiquitin was also attached to other non-protein molecules like glycerol and spermine.

"Without our tools and method, this remarkable process would have remained invisible," said Dr. Simon Cobbold, study co-author. "That's the beauty of NoPro-clipping. It's allowing us to study a canvas of molecules the ubiquitin field has overlooked all this time."

The team tested mice under different conditions to understand how this works. When mice fasted and their bodies needed energy, glycogen levels dropped and ubiquitin tags increased on the remaining glycogen.

When researchers artificially increased ubiquitin attachment, glycogen levels fell even further. This confirmed the process isn't random but a controlled system our bodies use to manage energy.

Why This Inspires

This discovery matters because it goes straight to the root of conditions affecting millions of people. Excess glycogen accumulation links to diabetes, obesity, and fatty liver disease.

Current treatments like Ozempic work indirectly through hormones. "Without being able to regulate glycogen itself, it is hard to combat its accumulation, the root cause of many diseases," Professor Komander explained.

Now scientists have found a way to potentially target glycogen directly. For people with rare Glycogen Storage Disorders, where regulation fails completely, this could be life changing.

The finding also opens doors for treating metabolic diseases in entirely new ways. Instead of managing symptoms through insulin or hormonal regulation, future therapies might control how our bodies store and release sugar at the cellular level.

First author Marco Jochem believes they've only scratched the surface. "Our discovery is rewriting the fundamental rules of biology and ubiquitin signalling. And I'm sure we've only hit the tip of the iceberg."

This breakthrough reminds us that even our own bodies still hold secrets waiting to be discovered with the right tools and questions.