title: Toolboxes for a standardised and systematic study of glycans.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent progress in method development for characterising the branched structures of complex carbohydrates has now enabled higher throughput technology. Automation of structure analysis then calls for software development since adding meaning to large data collections in reasonable time requires corresponding bioinformatics methods and tools. Current glycobioinformatics resources do cover information on the structure and function of glycans, their interaction with proteins or their enzymatic synthesis. However, this information is partial, scattered and often difficult to find to for non-glycobiologists.
  
  
  METHODS
  Following our diagnosis of the causes of the slow development of glycobioinformatics, we review the "objective" difficulties encountered in defining adequate formats for representing complex entities and developing efficient analysis software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Various solutions already implemented and strategies defined to bridge glycobiology with different fields and integrate the heterogeneous glyco-related information are presented.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite the initial stage of our integrative efforts, this paper highlights the rapid expansion of glycomics, the validity of existing resources and the bright future of glycobioinformatics.
authors.forename: Matthew P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ranzinger
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lütteke
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mariethoz
authors.forename: Catherine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Hayes
authors.forename: Jingyu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yukie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Akune
authors.forename: Kiyoko F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Aoki-Kinoshita
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Damerell
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Carta
authors.forename: Will S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: York
authors.forename: Stuart M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Haslam
authors.forename: Hisashi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Narimatsu
authors.forename: Pauline M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Rudd
authors.forename: Niclas G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Karlsson
authors.forename: Nicolle H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Packer
authors.forename: Frédérique
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lisacek
mesh_terms: D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D054794:Glycomics / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D020407:Internet; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D012984:Software
chemical_list: D011134:Polysaccharides; D011506:Proteins