Using GlyTouCan Version 1.0: The First International Glycan Structure Repository

Glycans are known as the third major class of biopolymers next to DNA and proteins and have many biological roles by structural properties. The structure of glycans differs greatly from DNA and proteins in that they are branched structures of monosaccharides, as opposed to linear sequences of amino acids or nucleotides. Therefore, the assignment of glycan structure information has been a difficult problem. In order to solve this problem, an international team of glyco-scientists has collaborated to develop this repository, called GlyTouCan, to provide a centralized resource to deposit glycan structures and obtain unique accession numbers. GlyTouCan can accept glycan structures in any form, including ambiguous structures consisting of compositions and topologies. Users can register new glycan structures and additionally search for glycan structures that have been registered into this repository. All of these tools are freely available at https://glytoucan.org/. This will enable glycomics researchers to easily identify glycan structures by accession number. This chapter describes the procedures for the registration and search methods of glycan structures and provides an overview of the entry pages. Furthermore, troubleshooting tips and cautionary notes for using GlyTouCan are also included.