GlyTouCan

GlyTouCan is a global registry for glycan structures that provides unique, persistent identifiers to enable unambiguous communication of glycan information across publications and databases. It is an international collaborative resource designed to support the glycoscience community by offering a centralized place to register and access glycan data.

Each registered glycan is assigned a GlyTouCan ID, and the registry stores structural representations and accompanying metadata. Key data typically include the proposed name, source organism, supporting literature, and available experimental evidence. The structures are encoded in a machine-readable format such as WURCS, which supports computational processing and data exchange in glycomics workflows.

The platform supports submission by researchers, with curation to ensure consistency and quality. It provides a web interface for searching glycans by structural features, mass, composition, or metadata, and offers programmatic access through an API along with options for data export. GlyTouCan records are designed to be interoperable with other glycobiology resources, enabling linking and data integration across databases and studies.

GlyTouCan aims to reduce duplication of effort in glycan identification and to improve data traceability and reproducibility in research. It serves as a widely used reference in publications, datasets, and collaborative projects, and is maintained as a community-oriented resource supported by international partnerships and funding.