Find out if your protein is O‐GlcNAc modified: The O‐GlcNAc database

Abstract

Post‐translational modifications (PTMs) are ubiquitous and essential for protein function and signaling, motivating the need for sustainable benefit and open models of web databases. Highly conserved O‐GlcNAcylation is a case example of one of the most recently discovered PTMs, investigated by a growing community. Historically, details about O‐GlcNAcylated proteins and sites were dispersed across literature and in non‐O‐GlcNAc‐focused, rapidly outdated or now defunct web databases. In a first effort to fill the gap, we recently published a human O‐GlcNAcome catalog with a basic web interface. Based on the enthusiasm generated by this first resource, we extended our O‐GlcNAcome catalog to include data from 42 distinct organisms and released the O‐GlcNAc Database v1.2. In this version, more than 14 500 O‐GlcNAcylated proteins and 11 000 O‐GlcNAcylation sites are referenced from the curation of 2200 publications. Here, we present the extensive features of the O‐GlcNAc Database, including the user‐friendly interface, back‐end and client–server interactions. Finally, this database system can be administrated with little to no programming skills and is meant to be an example of a useful, sustainable and cost‐efficient resource, which exclusively relies on free open‐source software elements (www.oglcnac.mcw.edu).