Celi Ana Beatriz, Goldstein Jorge, Rosato-Siri María Victoria, Pinto Alipio
Laboratorio de Neurofisiopatología, Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica "Houssay", CONICET, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Front Mol Biosci. 2022 Feb 23;9:813637. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.813637. eCollection 2022.
At first glance, the biological function of globoside (Gb) clusters appears to be that of glycosphingolipid (GSL) receptors for bacterial toxins that mediate host-pathogen interaction. Indeed, certain bacterial toxin families have been evolutionarily arranged so that they can enter eukaryotic cells through GSL receptors. A closer look reveals this molecular arrangement allocated on a variety of eukaryotic cell membranes, with its role revolving around physiological regulation and pathological processes. What makes Gb such a ubiquitous functional arrangement? Perhaps its peculiarity is underpinned by the molecular structure itself, the nature of Gb-bound ligands, or the intracellular trafficking unleashed by those ligands. Moreover, Gb biological conspicuousness may not lie on intrinsic properties or on its enzymatic synthesis/degradation pathways. The present review traverses these biological aspects, focusing mainly on globotriaosylceramide (Gb3), a GSL molecule present in cell membranes of distinct cell types, and proposes a wrap-up discussion with a phylogenetic view and the physiological and pathological functional alternatives.
乍一看，糖苷脂（Gb）簇的生物学功能似乎是作为介导宿主与病原体相互作用的细菌毒素的糖鞘脂（GSL）受体。的确，某些细菌毒素家族在进化过程中已被安排成能够通过GSL受体进入真核细胞。进一步观察发现，这种分子排列分布在多种真核细胞膜上，其作用围绕生理调节和病理过程展开。是什么使得Gb具有如此普遍的功能排列呢？或许其独特性是由分子结构本身、与Gb结合的配体的性质，或者这些配体引发的细胞内运输所支撑的。此外，Gb的生物学显著性可能并不在于其内在特性或酶促合成/降解途径。本综述探讨了这些生物学方面，主要聚焦于球三糖神经酰胺（Gb3），一种存在于不同细胞类型细胞膜中的GSL分子，并从系统发育的角度以及生理和病理功能选择方面进行了总结性讨论。
