Understanding Protein Association with Glycogen: Analyzing Untreated and α-Amylase Treated Samples

The untreated lanes do not contain any bands because they have not been treated with any specific protein or enzyme. Therefore, there are no proteins or enzymes present in these lanes to form bands.

'α-amylase' is treated to degrade glycogen into smaller glucose units. This treatment helps to analyze the proteins associated with glycogen by breaking down the glycogen molecules and allowing the associated proteins to be separated and visualized more clearly.

The proteins that can be expected to be associated with glycogen include glycogen synthase, glycogen phosphorylase, glycogen branching enzyme, and glycogenin.

These associated proteins cannot be seen directly because they are not stained or labeled in the experiment. The proteins can only be inferred by studying the effects of their enzymatic activities on glycogen molecules or by using specific antibodies for protein detection methods.