Glycogen is a highly purified polysaccharide from oysters and can be used as a carrier for nucleic acid precipitation thereby replacing tRNA, linear polyacrylamide or sonicated DNA. Glycogen is an inert material compatible with most molecular biology procedures: PCR*, DNA sequencing, restriction digestion, ligation, competent cell transformation, cDNA synthesis, DNA labeling by kinase reactions and random priming, in vitro transcription/translation, gel electrophoresis, etc. Glycogen is a branched biopolymer consisting of linear chains of glucose residues with further chains branching off every 8 to 12 glucoses or so. Glucoses are linked together linearly by α(1→4) glycosidic bonds from one glucose to the next. Branches are linked to the chains from which they are branching off by α(1→6) glycosidic bonds between the first glucose of the new branch and a glucose on the stem chain. Due to the way glycogen is synthesised, every glycogen granule has at its core a glycogenin pro