Glypiation is the addition by covalent bonding of a

glycosylphosphatidylinositol Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (), or glycophosphatidylinositol, or GPI in short, is a phosphoglyceride that can be attached to the C-terminus of a protein during posttranslational modification. The resulting GPI-anchored proteins play key roles in ...

(GPI) anchor and is a common

post-translational modification Post-translational modification (PTM) is the covalent and generally enzymatic modification of proteins following protein biosynthesis. This process occurs in the endoplasmic reticulum and the golgi apparatus. Proteins are synthesized by ribosome ...

that localizes proteins to cell membranes. This special kind of glycosylation is widely detected on surface glycoproteins in

eukaryotes Eukaryotes () are organisms whose cells have a nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, and many unicellular organisms, are Eukaryotes. They belong to the group of organisms Eukaryota or Eukarya, which is one of the three domains of life. Bacte ...

and some

Archaea Archaea ( ; singular archaeon ) is a domain of single-celled organisms. These microorganisms lack cell nuclei and are therefore prokaryotes. Archaea were initially classified as bacteria, receiving the name archaebacteria (in the Archaebac ...

. GPI anchors consist of a phosphoethanolamine linker that binds to the

C-terminus The C-terminus (also known as the carboxyl-terminus, carboxy-terminus, C-terminal tail, C-terminal end, or COOH-terminus) is the end of an amino acid chain (protein or polypeptide), terminated by a free carboxyl group (-COOH). When the protein is ...

of target proteins. Glycan's core structure has a

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 ...

tail that anchors the structure to the membrane. Both the lipid moiety of the tail and the sugar residues in the glycan core has considerable variation, demonstrating vast functional diversity that includes signal transduction, cell adhesion and immune recognition. GPI anchors can also be cleaved by enzymes such as phospholipase C to regulate the localization of proteins that are anchored at the plasma membrane.

Mechanism

Similar to the precursor glycan used for

N-glycosylation ''N''-linked glycosylation, is the attachment of an oligosaccharide, a carbohydrate consisting of several sugar molecules, sometimes also referred to as glycan, to a nitrogen atom (the amide nitrogen of an asparagine (Asn) residue of a protein), ...

, GPI anchor biosynthesis begins on the cytoplasmic leaflet of the ER and is completed on the luminal side. During this process, 3-4 Man and various other sugars (e.g., GlcNAc, Gal) are built onto a phosphatidylinositol (PI) molecule embedded in the membrane using sugars donated from sugar nucleotides and dolichol-P-mannose outside and inside the ER, respectively. Additionally, 2-3 phosphoethanolamine (EtN-P) linker residues are donated from

phosphatidylethanolamine Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) is a class of phospholipids found in biological membranes. They are synthesized by the addition of cytidine diphosphate-ethanolamine to diglycerides, releasing cytidine monophosphate. ''S''-Adenosyl methionine can s ...

in the ER lumen to facilitate binding of the anchor to proteins. Proteins destined to be glypiated have two signal sequences: * An

N-terminal The N-terminus (also known as the amino-terminus, NH2-terminus, N-terminal end or amine-terminus) is the start of a protein or polypeptide, referring to the free amine group (-NH2) located at the end of a polypeptide. Within a peptide, the ami ...

signal sequence that directs co-translational transport into the ER * A

C-terminal The C-terminus (also known as the carboxyl-terminus, carboxy-terminus, C-terminal tail, C-terminal end, or COOH-terminus) is the end of an amino acid chain (protein or polypeptide), terminated by a free carboxyl group (-COOH). When the protein is ...

signal sequence that is recognized by a GPI transamidase (GPIT)^{/sup>
GPIT does not have a consensus sequence but instead recognizes a C-terminal sequence motif that enables it to covalently attach a GPI anchor to an amino acid in the sequence. This C-terminal sequence is embedded in the ER membrane immediately after translation, and the protein is then cleaved from the sequence and attached to a preformed GPI anchor.Kinoshita T. et al. (1995) Defective glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol anchor synthesis and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria. Adv Immunol. 60, 57-103.Udenfriend S. and Kodukula K. (1995) How glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored membrane proteins are made. Annu Rev Biochem. 64, 563-91.

Prediction of glypiation sites in proteins

''In silico'' prediction of glypiation sites can be performed by:

GPI-SOM: Identification of GPI-anchor signals by a Kohonen Self Organizing Map

* ttp://www.csbio.sjtu.edu.cn/bioinf/MemType/ MemType-2L
NetGPI

References

{{Reflist

Post-translational modification}