9.B.315.  The Glycoslyphosphatidylinositol (GPI) Membrane Anchoring Protein GWT1 (GWT1) Family 

This family consists of proteins that modify and anchor proteins to the membrane of eukaryotes using a GPI anchor. The proteins variy in size and numbers of TMSs with the longer ones having more TMSs. GPI-anchored proteins (GPI-APs) are anchored at the surfaces of mammalian blood and tissue cells through a carboxy-terminal GPI glycolipid. Eventually, they are released into incubation medium in vitro and blood in vivo, and they are subsequently inserted into neighboring cells, potentially leading to inappropriate surface expression or lysis (Müller et al. 2021). A chip-based sensing system for GPI-AP transfer may be useful for the prediction and stratification of metabolic diseases as well as elucidation of the putative role of intercellular transfer of cell surface proteins, such as GPI-APs, in (patho)physiological mechanisms (Müller et al. 2021).