Biophysics of sphingolipids II. Glycosphingolipids: An assortment of

BRUNO MAGGIO, M.L. FANANI, C.M. ROSETTI, N. WILKE

BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOMEMBRANES

Elsevier

Año: 2006 vol. 1758 p. 1922 - 1922

0005-2736

font face="AdvTT6120e2aa" size="1"> Glycosphingolipids are ubiquitous components of animal cell membranes. They are constituted by the basic structure of ceramide with its hydroxyl group linked to single carbohydrates or oligosaccharide chains of different complexity. The combination of the properties of their hydrocarbon moiety with those derived from the variety and complexity of their hydrophilic polar head groups confers to these lipids an extraordinary capacity for molecular-to-supramolecular transduction across the lateral/transverse planes in biomembranes and beyond. In our opinion, most of the advances made over the last decade on the biophysical behavior of glycosphingolipids can be organized into three related aspects of increasing structural complexity: (1) intrinsic codes: local molecular interactions of glycosphingolipids translated into structural sel