Glycolipid transfer protein is a cytosolic protein that catalyses the transfer of
glycolipid
Glycolipids are lipids with a carbohydrate attached by a glycosidic (covalent) bond. Their role is to maintain the stability of the cell membrane and to facilitate cellular recognition, which is crucial to the immune response and in the connec ...
s between different intracellular membranes.
It was discovered by Raymond J. Metz and Norman S. Radin in 1980 and partially purified and characterized in 1982.
Recent reviews on structure and possible function are available.
This protein transports primarily different
glycosphingolipid
Glycosphingolipids are a subtype of glycolipids containing the amino alcohol sphingosine. They may be considered as sphingolipids with an attached carbohydrate. Glycosphingolipids are a group of lipids (more specifically, sphingolipids) and are a p ...
s and
glyceroglycolipids between intracellular membranes, but not
phospholipid
Phospholipids, are a class of lipids whose molecule has a hydrophilic "head" containing a phosphate group and two hydrophobic "tails" derived from fatty acids, joined by an alcohol residue (usually a glycerol molecule). Marine phospholipids typ ...
s. It might be also involved in translocation of
glucosylceramide
Glucocerebroside (also called glucosylceramide) is any of the cerebrosides in which the monosaccharide head group is glucose.
Clinical significance
In Gaucher disease, the enzyme glucocerebrosidase is nonfunctional and cannot break down glucocer ...
s. It was found in brain, kidney, spleen, lung, cerebellum, liver and heart.
Human proteins containing this domain
GLTP;
PLEKHA8
Pleckstrin homology domain containing A8 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PLEKHA8 gene
In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''g ...
;
PLEKHA9;
References
Peripheral membrane proteins
Water-soluble transporters
Protein domains
{{membrane-protein-stub