The amino acid sequence of the planar interfacial surface located at the tip of the NTD was analysed for the presence of consensus ganglioside-binding domains [20]. These motifs are constituted by a triad of mandatory amino acid residues such as (K,R)-Xn-(F,Y,W)-Xn-(K,R). The Xn intercalating segments, usually four to five residues, may contain any amino acid, but often Gly, Pro and/or Ser residues. The strict application of this algorithm did not allow the detection of any potential ganglioside-binding domain in this region of the NTD. However, an intriguing over-representation of aromatic and basic residues was found in the 129–158 segment: 129-KVCEFQFCNDPFLGVYYHKNNKSWMESEFR-158. This 30-amino acid stretch also contains Gly, Pro and/or Ser residues that are often found in ganglioside-binding motifs. These observations supported the notion that the tip of the NTD could display a large ganglioside-attachment interface.