Binds gangliosides and stimulates ganglioside GM2 degradation. It stimulates only the breakdown of ganglioside GM2 and glycolipid GA2 by beta-hexosaminidase A. It extracts single GM2 molecules from membranes and presents them in soluble form to beta-hexosaminidase A for cleavage of N-acetyl-D-galactosamine and conversion to GM3.
[1] "Isolation and expression of a full-length cDNA encoding the human G-M2 activator protein."Xie B., McInnes B., Neote K., Lamhonwah A.-M., Mahuran D.Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 177:1217-1223(1991) [2] "Characterization of full-length cDNAs and th