Monitoring carbohydrate 3D structure quality with the Privateer database

Beilstein J Org Chem. 2024 Apr 24:20:931-939. doi: 10.3762/bjoc.20.83. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

The remediation of the carbohydrate data of the Protein Data Bank (PDB) has brought numerous enhancements to the findability and interpretability of deposited glycan structures, yet crucial quality indicators are either missing or hard to find on the PDB pages. Without a way to access wider glycochemical context, problematic structures may be taken as fact by keen but inexperienced scientists. The Privateer software is a validation and analysis tool that provides access to a number of metrics and links to external experimental resources, allowing users to evaluate structures using carbohydrate-specific methods. Here, we present the Privateer database, a free resource that aims to complement the growing glycan content of the PDB.

Keywords: N-glycans; N-glycosylation; carbohydrates; database; polysaccharides; validation; website.

Grants and funding

Jordan Dialpuri is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC; grant No. BB/T0072221). Haroldas Bagdonas is funded by The Royal Society (grant No. RGF/R1/181006). Lucy Schofield is funded by STFC/CCP4 PhD studentship agreement 4462290 (York) / S2 2024 012 (STFC) awarded to Jon Agirre. Phuong Thao Pham is a self-funded PhD student. Lou Holland is funded by The Royal Society (URF\R\221006). Jon Agirre is a Royal Society University Research Fellow (awards UF160039 and URF\R\221006).