This glucosylceramide analogue contains a biotin unit attached to the amine of the sphingosine moiety via a hexanoic acid linker and is ideal for use in sphingolipid studies. The biotin structure allows for attachment of the glucosylceramide to streptavidin and avidin making it extremely useful for binding to substrates and for toxin detection1. Glucosylceramide is a major constituent of skin lipids where it has an important role in lamellar body formation and in maintaining the water permeability barrier. Glucocerebroside is very important due to its function as the biosynthetic precursor of lactosylceramide and from there of most of the neutral oligoglycolipids and gangliosides.2 Glucocerebrosides tend to be concentrated in the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane in lipid rafts. It has been reported that glucocerebrosides are essential for the activity of tyrosinase (a key enzyme in melanin biosynthesis), to elicit defense responses in plants, and to help the plasma membrane in plants to withstand stresses brought about by cold and drought. In Gaucher’s disease glucocerebrosides accumulate in the spleen, liver, lungs, bone marrow, and brain due to a deficiency of the enzyme glucocerebrosidase.3 This accumulation of glucocerebroside has been associated with chemotherapy resistance. Glucocerebroside has also been shown to be able to modulate membrane traffic along the endocytic pathway.4
