Tay-Sachs Ganglioside (GM2)

GM2 is a type of ganglioside. G refers to ganglioside, the M is for monosialic (as in it has one sialic acid), and 2 refers to the fact that it was the second monosialic ganglioside discovered. It is associated with GM2 gangliosidoses such as Tay-Sachs disease.

GM2 produced a 5-fold increase in the CNTF binding affinity per cell but did not change the binding site number. biosynthesized GM2 was involved in the immunoprecipitation of CNTF-R. These findings indicate that up-regulated GM2 synthesis induces functional conversion of CNTF-R to the activated state, in which it has affinity for CNTF. GM2 is a bio-regulating molecule of CNTF-R in motor neurons. GM2 ganglioside regulates the function of ciliary neurotrophic factor receptor in murine immortalized motor neuron-like cells (NSC-34).