Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review

Glycosylphosphatidylinositol Anchors

Michael AJ Ferguson, Taroh Kinoshita, Gerald W Hart
Ajit Varki, Richard D Cummings, Jeffrey D Esko, Hudson H Freeze, Pamela Stanley, Carolyn R Bertozzi, Gerald W Hart, Marilynn E Etzler
, editors.
In: Essentials of Glycobiology. 2nd edition. Cold Spring Harbor (NY): Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; 2009. Chapter 11.
Free Books & Documents
Review

Glycosylphosphatidylinositol Anchors

Michael AJ Ferguson et al.
Free Books & Documents

Excerpt

Plasma membrane proteins are either peripheral proteins or integral membrane proteins. The latter include proteins that span the lipid bilayer once or several times and those that are covalently attached to lipids. Proteins attached to glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) via their carboxyl termini are found in the outer leaflet of the lipid bilayer and face the extracellular environment. The GPI membrane anchor may be conveniently thought of as an alternative to the single transmembrane domain of type-1 integral membrane proteins. This chapter reviews the discovery, distribution, structure, biosynthesis, properties, and suggested functions of GPI membrane anchors and related molecules.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Ferguson MA, Williams AF. Cell-surface anchoring of proteins via glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol structures. Annu Rev Biochem. 1988;57:285–320. - PubMed
    1. Ferguson MA, Homans SW, Dwek RA, Rademacher TW. Glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol moiety that anchors Trypanosoma brucei variant surface glycoprotein to the membrane. Science. 1988;239:753–759. - PubMed
    1. Homans SW, Ferguson MAJ, Dwek RA, Rademacher TW, Anand R, Williams AF. Complete structure of the glycosyl phosphatidylinositol membrane anchor of rat brain Thy-1 glycoprotein. Nature. 1988;333:269–272. - PubMed
    1. Simons K, Ikonen E. Functional rafts in cell membranes. Nature. 1997;387:569–572. - PubMed
    1. Kinoshita T, Inoue N. Dissecting and manipulating the pathway for glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchor biosynthesis. Curr Opin Chem Biol. 2000;4:632–638. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources