ABSTRACT
The UniLectin portal (https://unilectin.unige.ch/) was designed in 2019 with the goal of centralising curated and predicted data on carbohydrate-binding proteins known as lectins. UniLectin is also intended as a support for the study of lectomes (full lectin set) of organisms or tissues. The present update describes the inclusion of several new modules and details the latest (https://unilectin.unige.ch/humanLectome/), covering our knowledge of the human lectome and comprising 215 unevenly characterised lectins, particularly in terms of structural information. Each HumanLectome entry is protein-centric and compiles evidence of carbohydrate recognition domain(s), specificity, 3D-structure, tissue-based expression and related genomic data. Other recent improvements regarding interoperability and accessibility are outlined.
Subject(s)
Databases, Protein , Lectins , Humans , Carbohydrates/chemistry , Lectins/chemistry , Protein Binding , Protein Domains , Molecular Sequence AnnotationABSTRACT
For decades, lectins have been used as probes in glycobiology and this usage has gradually spread to other domains of Life Science. Nowadays, researchers investigate glycan recognition with lectins in diverse biotechnology and clinical applications, addressing key questions regarding binding specificity. The latter is documented in scattered and heterogeneous sources, and this situation calls for a centralized and easy-access reference. To address this need, an on-line solution called BiotechLec (https://www.unilectin.eu/biotechlec) is proposed in a new section of UniLectin, a platform dedicated to lectin molecular knowledge.