Brodsky Figure 1.
Structure of the GPI anchor. Phosphatidylinositol (PI) is inserted into the lipid bilayer of the plasma membrane. The glycan core, which contains the proaerolysin binding site, consists of a molecule of N-glucosamine (GlcNH2), three manose molecules (Man) and a molecule of ethanolamine (EtN). The representative protein is covalently attached through an amide bond to an ethanolamine on the terminal mannose.