Analysis and validation of carbohydrate three-dimensional structures

The article summarizes the information that is gained from and the errors that are found in carbohydrate structures in the Protein Data Bank. Validation tools that can locate these errors are described

pdb-care (PDB CArbohydrate REsidue check): a program to support annotation of complex carbohydrate structures in PDB files

BACKGROUND: Carbohydrates are involved in a variety of fundamental biological processes and pathological situations. They therefore have a large pharmaceutical and diagnostic potential. Knowledge of the 3D structure of glycans is a prerequisite for a complete understanding of their biological functions. The largest source of biomolecular 3D structures is the Protein Data Bank. However, about 30% of all 1663 PDB entries (version September 2003) containing carbohydrates comprise errors in glycan description. Unfortunately, no software is currently available which aligns the 3D information with the reported assignments. It is the aim of this work to fill this gap. RESULTS: The pdb-care program is able to identify and assign carbohydrate structures using only atom types and their 3D atom coordinates given in PDB-files. Looking up a translation table where systematic names and the respective PDB residue codes are listed, both assignments are compared and inconsistencies are reported. Additionally, the reliability of reported and calculated connectivities for molecules listed within the HETATOM records is checked and unusual values are reported. CONCLUSION: Frequent use of pdb-care will help to improve the quality of carbohydrate data contained in the PDB. Automatic assignment of carbohydrate structures contained in PDB entries will enable the cross-linking of glycobiology resources with genomic and proteomic data collections

Pembangunan Database Destinasi Pariwisata Indonesia dan Implementasinya pada Sistem Berbasis Web

Regarding to: (1) the increasing region\u27s need in developing tourism destinations; (2) the needs of tourists in selecting appropriate attractions according to specified criteria; (3) the need of travel businesses to offer sights of interest in accordance with the needs of potential tourists, (4) the need to deepen and continue our previous research titled "Development of Tourism Destination Media Potential and Utilizing Local Resources in the Era of Autonomy and Regional Expansion ", we need to develop a complete database of tourism destinations in Indonesia that can facilitate those needs. We build a web-based database that is capable of storing complete information about Indonesian tourism destinations in thorough, systematic, and structured way. It is also able to classify a variety of attractions based on attributes such as: location (the name of the island, province, district), type/ tourism products, how to achieve the object, cost, and a variety of informal information, such as the ins and outs of the attraction area incorporated by the local or tourist experiences. The research will focus on deepening and refinement of the model and database structure design and implementation with the collection, processing, and data entry of primary and secondary data which amounts to approximately 140 tourism destinations in Indonesia. The research is arranged in stages as follows: (1) designing models and the database structure, (2) making a web-based program, (3) installation and hosting ; (4) data collection, (5) data processing and data entry, (6) evaluation and improvement/ refinement. Once developed, the database can be used as a starting point in the development of Data Warehouse, Decision Support System, and Expert System for Indonesian tourism industry

Replication in the Mononuclear Phagocyte System (MPS) as a Determinant of Hantavirus Pathogenicity

Members of different virus families including Hantaviridae cause viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs). The decisive determinants of hantavirus-associated pathogenicity are still enigmatic. Pathogenic hantavirus species, such as Puumala virus (PUUV), Hantaan virus (HTNV), Dobrava-Belgrade virus (DOBV), and Sin Nombre virus (SNV), are associated with significant case fatality rates. In contrast, Tula virus (TULV) only sporadically causes mild disease in immunocompetent humans and Prospect Hill virus (PHV) so far has not been associated with any symptoms. They are thus defined here as low pathogenic/apathogenic hantavirus species. We found that productive infection of cells of the mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS), such as monocytes and dendritic cells (DCs), correlated well with the pathogenicity of hantavirus species tested. HTNV (intermediate case fatality rates) replicated more efficiently than PUUV (low case fatality rates) in myeloid cells, whereas low pathogenic/apathogenic hantavirus species did not produce any detectable virus titers. Analysis of PHPUV, a reassortant hantavirus derived from a pathogenic (PUUV) and an apathogenic (PHV) hantavirus species, indicated that the viral glycoproteins are not decisive for replication in MPS cells. Moreover, blocking acidification of endosomes with chloroquine decreased the number of TULV genomes in myeloid cells suggesting a post-entry block for low pathogenic/apathogenic hantavirus species in myeloid cells. Intriguingly, pathogenic but not low pathogenic/apathogenic hantavirus species induced conversion of monocytes into inflammatory DCs. The proinflammatory programming of MPS cells by pathogenic hantavirus species required integrin signaling and viral replication. Our findings indicate that the capacity to replicate in MPS cells is a prominent feature of hantaviral pathogenicity

Symbol Nomenclature for Graphical Representations of Glycans

ISSN:0959-665

EUROCarbDB: An open-access platform for glycoinformatics

The EUROCarbDB project is a design study for a technical framework, which provides sophisticated, freely accessible, open-source informatics tools and databases to support glycobiology and glycomic research. EUROCarbDB is a relational database containing glycan structures, their biological context and, when available, primary and interpreted analytical data from high-performance liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance experiments. Database content can be accessed via a web-based user interface. The database is complemented by a suite of glycoinformatics tools, specifically designed to assist the elucidation and submission of glycan structure and experimental data when used in conjunction with contemporary carbohydrate research workflows. All software tools and source code are licensed under the terms of the Lesser General Public License, and publicly contributed structures and data are freely accessible. The public test version of the web interface to the EUROCarbDB can be found at http://www.ebi.ac.uk/eurocar

EUROCarbDB: An open-access platform for glycoinformatics

The EUROCarbDB project is a design study for a technical framework, which provides sophisticated, freely accessible, open-source informatics tools and databases to support glycobiology and glycomic research. EUROCarbDB is a relational database containing glycan structures, their biological context and, when available, primary and interpreted analytical data from high-performance liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance experiments. Database content can be accessed via a web-based user interface. The database is complemented by a suite of glycoinformatics tools, specifically designed to assist the elucidation and submission of glycan structure and experimental data when used in conjunction with contemporary carbohydrate research workflows. All software tools and source code are licensed under the terms of the Lesser General Public License, and publicly contributed structures and data are freely accessible. The public test version of the web interface to the EUROCarbDB can be found at http://www.ebi.ac.uk/eurocarb

BioHackathon series in 2011 and 2012: penetration of ontology and linked data in life science domains

The application of semantic technologies to the integration of biological data and the interoperability of bioinformatics analysis and visualization tools has been the common theme of a series of annual BioHackathons hosted in Japan for the past five years. Here we provide a review of the activities and outcomes from the BioHackathons held in 2011 in Kyoto and 2012 in Toyama. In order to efficiently implement semantic technologies in the life sciences, participants formed various sub-groups and worked on the following topics: Resource Description Framework (RDF) models for specific domains, text mining of the literature, ontology development, essential metadata for biological databases, platforms to enable efficient Semantic Web technology development and interoperability, and the development of applications for Semantic Web data. In this review, we briefly introduce the themes covered by these sub-groups. The observations made, conclusions drawn, and software development projects that emerged from these activities are discussed

Individual Impact of Distinct Polysialic Acid Chain Lengths on the Cytotoxicity of Histone H1, H2A, H2B, H3 and H4

Neutrophils are able to neutralize pathogens by phagocytosis, by the release of antimicrobial components, as well as by the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). The latter possibility is a DNA-meshwork mainly consisting of highly concentrated extracellular histones, which are not only toxic for pathogens, but also for endogenous cells triggering several diseases. To reduce the negative outcomes initiated by extracellular histones, different approaches like antibodies against histones, proteases, and the polysaccharide polysialic acid (polySia) were discussed. We examined whether each of the individual histones is a binding partner of polySia, and analyzed their respective cytotoxicity in the presence of this linear homopolymer. Interestingly, all of the histones (H1, H2A, H2B, H3, and H4) seem to interact with α2,8-linked sialic acids. However, we observed strong differences regarding the required chain length of polySia to bind histone H1, H2A, H2B, H3, and H4. Moreover, distinct degrees of polymerization were necessary to act as a cytoprotective agent in the presence of the individual histones. In sum, the outlined results described polySia-based strategies to bind and/or to reduce the cytotoxicity of individual histones using distinct polySia chain length settings