Glycosphingolipids

Class abbreviations

Specific rules for glycosphingolipids

• In glycosphingolipids the sphingoid backbone is annotated C-atoms:DBE;O-atoms separated by a slash from the number of C-atoms:DBE;O-atoms of the N-linked fatty acid, e.g. -Cer 18:1;O2/16:0.
• Double bond geometry is annotated in parenthesis and positions of other functional groups are as described for fatty acyl-chains, e.g. -Cer 18:1(4E);1OH,3OH/16:0.
• A fatty acid esterified to an N-linked hydroxy-fatty acyl is shown in a separate pair of parentheses xO(FA C-atoms:DBE) with x denoting the position of hydroxyl group (∆ nomenclature) in the N-linked fatty acids, e.g. Cer 18:1;O2/26:0;18O(FA 16:0).
• Carbohydrate modification of a sphingoid base-OH is written in front of (sub)class abbreviation with integrated position number in brackets at the end of abbreviation, e.g. GlcCer[1] 18:1(4E);3OH/18:0.
• When the sequence of carbohydrate structures is known, they are shown in this order separated by a hyphen. In case the sequence is unknown the components (followed by their number if more than one) are shown in alphabetic order in front of the respective lipid backbone, e.g. Gal2GlcCer 18:1;O2/16:0.
• Consequently, in shorthand notation from Structure defined level onwards only unmodified OH-groups of the sphingoid base are annotated.

Hierarchical shorthand notation for examples of glycosphingolipids containing an amide-bound fatty acid

Phyla	Species level1	Molecular species level	Full structure level
Mammalian and plant	Hex-Cer 34:1;O2	Hex-Cer 18:1;O2/16:0 Glc-Cer 18:1;O2/16:0	Glc-Cer[1] 18:1(4E);3OH/16:0
Mammalian	Hex-Cer 34:0;O2	Hex-Cer 18:0;O2/16:0 Gal-Cer 18:0;O2/16:0	Gal-Cer[1] 18:0;3OH/16:0
Mammalian	Hex2Cer 34:1;O2	Hex2Cer 18:1;O2/16:0	Lac-Cer[1] 18:1(4E);3OH/16:0 Gal-Glc-Cer[1] 18:1(4E);3OH/16:0
Mammalian	Hex3Cer 42:1;O2	Hex3Cer 18:1;O2/24:0	Gal-Gal-Glc-Cer[1] 18:1(4E);3OH /24:0 (Gb3)
Mammalian	NeuAcHex2Cer 42:1;O2	NeuAcHex2Cer 18:1;O2/24:0	NeuAc-Gal-Glc-Cer[1] 18:1(4E);3OH /24:0 (GM3)
Mammalian	NeuAc2Hex2Cer 42:1;O2	NeuAc2Hex2Cer 18:1;O2/24:0	NeuAc-NeuAc-Gal-Glc-Cer[1] 18:1(4E);3OH /24:0 (GD3)
Mammalian	SHex-Cer 34:1;O2	SHex-Cer 18:1;O2/16:0	S(3’)Hex-Cer[1] 18:1(4E);3OH/16:0 S(3’)Gal-Cer[1] 18:1(4E);3OH/16:0
Mammalian	SHexHexNAcHex3Cer 34:1;O2	SHexHexNAcHex3Cer 18:1;O2/16:0	S(3’)Hex-HexNac-Hex-Hex-Hex-Cer[1] 18:1(4E);3OH/16:0 S(3’)Gal-GalNAc-Gal-Gal-Glc-Cer[1] 18:1(4E);3OH/16:0 (Globopentaosylceramide sulfate)