Figure 1.
Biosynthesis of gangliosides. Gangliosides are classified in 4 series according to the number of sialic acid residues linked to lactosylceramide (LacCer) [10]. The 0-series gangliosides are directly synthesized from LacCer and the precursors of other series are synthesized by specific sialyltransferases: ST3Gal V (GM3 synthase), ST8Sia I (GD3 synthase) and ST8Sia V (GT3 synthase), respectively. The elongation of precursors is performed by the sequential action of N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase (β4GalNAc T1), galactosyltransferase (β3Gal T4) and sialyltransferases (ST3Gal II and ST8Sia V). Cer, ceramide. Adapted from [3].
