Glycophorin A

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the discovery of and research into Glycophorin A, a sugar-bearing protein that spans the entire thickness of the red blood cell membrane and that contains some carbohydrate chains that protrude from the membrane surface. These chains serve several important functions: First, they act as the cell's recognition sites for blood groups and for certain viruses; second, they are involved in the maintenance of the negative charge on the cell's surface, and this charge prevents the cell from clumping with other red blood cells.

From the Paper:

Glycophorin is a sugar-bearing protein. It spans the entire thickness of the red blood cell membrane. Glycophorin was named by Vincent Marchesi, the man who succeeded in detaching it, intact, from membrane ghosts. Glycophorin contains some carbohydrate chains that protrude from the membrane surface. These chains serve several important functions: First, they act as the cell's recognition sites for blood groups and for certain viruses; second, they are involved in the maintenance of the negative charge on the cell's surface, and this charge prevents the cell from clumping with other red blood cells (Pines 85). Glycophorin today is now the best-known of the glycoproteins extending through the cell membrane. It is also the first to have its amino acids completely analyzed and sequenced.

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