GlycoStore (http://www.glycostore.org) is an open access chromatographic and electrophoretic retention database of N-, O- and GSL glycans characterised from a range of glycoproteins, glycolipids and biotherapeutics. It is a continuation of GlycoBase project, but addresses many of the technological limitations, in particular, improvements to the bioinformatics architecture, enhancing data annotations and connectivity with external resources.
The database has four levels. The first level brings together annotated glycomics data sourced from a number of analytical platforms including ultra-high performance liquid chromatography, porous graphitized carbon chromatography with MS detection, and capillary electrophoresis with laser induced fluorescence detection. The second level provides access to a growing, curated database of published literature, with a focus on data that has become available over the past five years, filling an information gap between GlycoBase and GlycoStore. This content includes a number of features such as a detailed comparison of serum glycosylation profiles derived from healthy individuals with different diseases, providing insights into how glycosylation changes are associated with health and disease. The third level is a new search tool that allows users to efficiently filter structure entries based on annotated features (e.g. epitopes and mass), by category type, and glycoprotein. The last level is the provision of dedicated Semantic resources that provides a platform for developers to query and mine the available content as part of the GlyGen project.
Metadata is critical for connecting and reusing glycomics data. Our aim is to create a metadata specification and a glycomic collections registry to facilitate data discovery. We are developing a web-based interface and visualisation tools enabling users to explore GlycoStore, compare data sets, and filter by structural and analytical facets. It also provides the functionality to access supporting data, as well as to visualise regions of interest and connections with data available in other resources.