Glycolipids are carbohydrate-attached lipids. Their role is to provide energy and also serve as markers for cellular recognition.

They occur where a carbohydrate chain is associated with phospholipids on the exoplasmic surface of the cell membrane. The carbohydrates are found on the outer surface of all eukaryotic cell membranes. The carbohydrate structure of the glycolipid is controlled by the glycosyltransferases that add the lipids and glycosylhydrolases that modify the glycan after addition.

They extend from the phospholipid bilayer into the aqueous environment outside the cell where it acts as a recognition site for specific chemicals as well as helping to maintain the stability of the membrane and attaching cells to one another to form tissues.

Contents 1 Types of glycolipids 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Types of glycolipids

The following is an incomplete listing of glycolipid types.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Glyceroglycolipids
  • Galactolipids
  • Sulfolipids (SQDG)
• Glycosphingolipids
  • Cerebrosides
    • Galactocerebrosides
    • Glucocerebrosides
      • Glucobicaranateoets
  • Gangliosides (the most complex animal glycolipids; contain negatively charged oligosacchrides with one or more sialic acid residues; more than 200 ^[1] different gangliosides have been identified; they are most abundant in nerve cells)
  • Globosides
  • Sulfatides
  • Glycophosphosphingolipids (complex glycophospholipids from fungi, including yeasts, and in plants, where they were originally called "phytoglycolipids" by Herbert Carter, et al., may comprise as complicated a set of compounds as the negatively charged gangliosides in animals. The head group of a glycolipid is composed of sugars.
• Glycosylphosphatidylinositols

[edit] See also

• Glycocalyx
• Glycoproteins
• Niemann Pick disease Type C

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• MeSH Glycolipids

v • d • e Glycoconjugates, lipids and glycolipids: sphingolipids and glycosphingolipids, and metabolic intermediates Ceramide Cerebroside (Galactocerebroside, Glucocerebroside) · Lactosylceramide Ganglioside pathway From ganglioside GM1 · GM2 · GD2 From globoside Globotriaosylceramide From sphingomyelin Glucocerebroside From sulfatide Galactocerebroside To sphingosine Ceramide see also enzymes, disorders

v • d • e Metabolism: lipid metabolism · glycolipid enzymes Sphingolipid To glycosphingolipid Glycosyltransferase · Sulfotransferase To ceramide From ganglioside: Beta-galactosidase · Hexosaminidase A · Neuraminidase · Beta-galactosidase · Glucocerebrosidase From globoside: Hexosaminidase B · Alpha-galactosidase · Beta-galactosidase · Glucocerebrosidase From sphingomyelin: Sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 1 From sulfatide: Arylsulfatase A · Galactosylceramidase To sphingosine Ceramidase (ACER1, ACER2, ACER3, ASAH1, ASAH2, ASAH2B, ASAH2C) NCL Palmitoyl thioesterase · Tripeptidyl peptidase I · CLN3 · CLN5 · CLN6 · CLN8 Ceramide synthesis Serine C-palmitoyltransferase (SPTLC1) · Ceramide glucosyltransferase (UGCG) see also lipid storage disorders, intermediates

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