Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 6, 2026

Bioinformatics Resources for the Study of Glycan-Mediated Protein Interactions
Published on: January 20, 2022
GlycoRNAdb: a database of glycoRNA sequences, structures, abundance, and glycan information across tissues and cell
Chuxin Zheng1, Ying Ao2, Zhen Zhang1
1MOE Key Laboratory of Gene Function and Regulation, State Key Laboratory for Biocontrol, Innovation Center for Evolutionary Synthetic Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Stress Biology, School of Agriculture and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
Abstract:
Glycosylated RNAs (glycoRNAs), recently discovered as cell surface molecules modified by complex N-glycans, represent a transformative frontier in RNA biology with emerging roles in immune regulation and intercellular communication. To address the lack of a dedicated resource, we developed GlycoRNAdb (http://www.glycornadb.com), the first comprehensive database integrating experimentally supported, specifically enriched glycoRNA sequences with associated glycosylation sites, secondary structures, expression profiles, and glycan composition from human and mouse tissues and cell lines. Data were curated from public datasets and processed via specialized pipelines to identify enriched glycoRNAs. The database contains 3379 curated entries, each annotated with sequence, structure (experimentally determined or R2DT-predicted), glycosylation sites, expression patterns, and detailed glycan information (composition, linkages, and tissue distribution). Built with a FAIR-compliant architecture, GlycoRNAdb offers advanced search, BLAST-based homology search, JBrowse-based genome browser, and interactive visualizations of structures, modification maps, heatmaps, and glycan chemistry. It enables exploration of cell-type-specific modification patterns, sequence-structure relationships, and modifications located proximal to glycosylation sites, such as acp³U, as demonstrated by case studies on snoRNAs and tRNAs. By unifying scattered glycoRNA data into a centralized, analytically rich platform, GlycoRNAdb serves as an indispensable resource to accelerate research into the biological functions and therapeutic potential of this novel class of RNA molecules.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Glycosaminoglycans
GAGS are found in the extracellular matrix of vertebrates, invertebrates, and bacteria. Due to their polar nature they attract water, and serve as excellent lubricants or shock absorbers in an animal body.
Hyaluronic...
Proteoglycans
Protein Glycosylation
Glycosylation occurs in...
Oligosaccharide Assembly
Multiple sugar molecules that may or may...
Glycocalyx and its Functions
Globular and Fibrous Proteins
Globular proteins are also known as spheroproteins and typically are approximately round in shape. They contain a mix of amino acid types and contain differing sequences in their primary structures. Globular proteins have many different functions, such as enzymes, cellular messengers, and molecular transporters. These roles often require the proteins to be...

