A graph theoretical study of the GlycomeDB Database

JUAN MANUEL ALONSO; GARAY, PABLO G.; ARROYUELO, AGUSTINA.; VILA, JORGE A.; MARTÍN OSVALDO A.

Villa General Belgrano

Congreso; GlycoAR 2016; 2016

Genes have a structure determined by strict and rather simple rules. In particular, when considered as (mathematical) graphs, they have the simplest structure: they are all paths (of different lengths), i.e. graphs ?more specifically, trees? with no ramifications. The situation is very different for glycans: there seems to be no simple rules to explain the great variety of structure they present. A sizeable portion of the determined structures of glycans ?as presented in GlycomeDB database [1]? are, when considered as graphs, ramified trees. Moreover, there are a few that are not even trees (i.e. they contain circuits). We performed a graph theoretical study of GlycomeDB, an open database containing at present some 41.100 entries. The preliminary results indicate that all analyzed glycan-structures can be clustered into a small number of arranges. We discuss the chemical and/or biological meaning of the proposed clusterization.