Figure 39.

Structural diversity of glycolipids. (A) Glycolipids are classified according to the lipid core structure into three categories. (B) The most common glycolipids in mammals are glycosphingolipids, which are assembled in a modular fashion from a sphingoid base, a fatty acid, and a glycan headgroup. (C) The first monosaccharide attached to ceramides in mammals is either β-Gal or β-Glc. The latter can be elongated to yield common glycan core structures. (D) Bacterial glycoglycerolipids often contain building blocks that are uncommon for mammalian glycolipids, including α-linked monosaccharides and lipid chain branching or cyclopropane rings. The glycoglycerolipid shown here was isolated from Lactobacillus plantarum.