Amylase Alpha 2B, Pancreatic (AMY2B)

Amylases are secreted proteins that hydrolyze 1,4-alpha-glucoside bonds in oligosaccharides and polysaccharides, and thus catalyze the first step in digestion of dietary starch and glycogen. The human genome has a cluster of several amylase genes that are expressed at high levels in either salivary gland or pancreas. AMY2B encodes an amylase isoenzyme produced by the pancreas.Large-scale copy number variations (LCVs) involve gains or losses of several kilobases to hundreds of kilobases of genomic DNA among phenotypically normal individuals. To investigate LCVs in the human genome, Iafrate et al. (2004) applied array-based comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH) to the genomes of 55 unrelated individuals.