From glycostructures to glycoknowledge

As every glycobiologist knows, the analysis of glycans suffers; compared to proteomics, from a lack of a genomic template This has resulted in a reluctance of the non-glycobiologist researcher to enter the field. However, we can now determine most eukaryotic glycostructures in detail and can associate these structures with specific changes correlated with many diseases. This capability allows not only the discovery of new biomarkers but also gives us the opportunity to 'reverse engineer' and deduce the enzymes and genes that have been regulated in the perturbed cellular states that produce the aberrant glycosylation. In addition, the expansion of systems biology that brings together genomics, proteomics, epigenetics and metabolomics is slowly but surely integrating glycomics data. Bioinformatics databases and tools are being co-operatively designed to connect with other -omics knowledgebases to enhance the prediction of protein and glycan function and interactions. Information relevant to the glycostructures expressed in different tissues and on different proteins can be obtained experimentally, but importantly is starting to be integrated into whole cell systems biology by the creation of glyco-related databases that are structured to bridge to the proteomics, genomics and interactomics knowledge-bases. This presentation will illustrate how the development of the UniCarbKB glycoknowledgebase addresses these needs, and will give examples of exploring and correlating glycomics structural data obtained from the global protein glycosylation analysis of cancer and infectious disease, through a combination of experimental and bioinformatics approaches.2 page(s