The biosynthesis of glucosylceramides, a type of glycosylsphingolipids, occurs in the Golgi apparatus and involves the sequential attachment of sugars to a ceramide lipid moiety that is exported from the endoplasmic reticulum. In D. melanogaster, the core of glucosylceramides is composed of a disaccharide core of mannose(β1,4)glucose β-linked to a ceramide, known as mactosylceramide (MacCer). The MacCer core is extended by the sequential addition of monosaccharides to form the 'arthro-series' of neutral, acidic, and zwitterionic glucosylceramides with variable complexity and oligosaccharide length. The N-acetylglucosamine residues can be further modified with phosphoethanolamine (pEtn). Glucosylceramides are usually transported to the plasma membrane and are often enriched in membrane microdomains, known as lipid rafts. They play various roles including the maintenance of membrane integrity and cell signaling. (Adapted from PMID:37279443).
GLUCOSYLCERAMIDE BIOSYNTHESIS
Notes
In D. melanogaster, the genes involved in the extension of the core oligosaccharide and the N-acetylglucosamine modification with phosphoethanolamine are not known. α4GT2 is a paralog of α4GT1 and is specifically expressed in the testis, therefore α4GT2 is not included in the gene list.
Unable to display GO ribbon stack for gene groups with more than 100 members.
External Data
Other resource(s)
Note: The Drosophila pathways shown at these resources are computed using different methods.
They may therefore differ from the manually curated and verified pathway shown above.
