Phosphatidylinositol Glycan P (PIGP)

PIGP encodes an enzyme involved in the first step of glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchor biosynthesis. The GPI-anchor is a glycolipid found on many blood cells that serves to anchor proteins to the cell surface.

The encoded protein is a component of the GPI-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase complex that catalyzes the transfer of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) from UDP-GlcNAc to phosphatidylinositol (PI). This gene is located in the Down Syndrome critical region on chromosome 21 and is a candidate for the pathogenesis of Down syndrome. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been described.The gene is highly expressed in human heart, liver, and skeletal muscle.