editorial\(\def\hfill{\hskip 5em}\def\hfil{\hskip 3em}\def\eqno#1{\hfil {#1}}\)

STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY COMMUNICATIONS

ISSN: 2053-230X

Volume 80| Part 2| February 2024| Pages 28-29

https://doi.org/10.1107/S2053230X2400102X

Free 

Private glycan investigations and public video content

Mark J. van Raaij^a*

^aDpto de Estructura de Macromoleculas, lab 20B, Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia - CSIC, calle Darwin 3, E-28049, Madrid, Spain
^*Correspondence e-mail: mjvanraaij@cnb.csic.es

Keywords: video content; Privateer; carbohydrate structural biology.

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In this issue of Acta Cryst. F – Structural Biology Communications we publish an article describing a web app in which the carbohydrate software Privateer (Agirre et al., 2015; https://privateer.york.ac.uk) can be run (Dialpuri et al., 2024). Although this self-updating and easy-to-use web app will be used by seasoned sugar-wranglers, it promises to be particularly useful for non-specialists who `encounter' a glycan in their electron density. It should allow the structural biology community to easily inspect, refine, analyse and validate glycan modifications and carbohydrate ligands. The availability of this tool will hopefully help improve the current situation with many missing or wrong carbohydrate residues in the PDB (Joosten & Lütteke, 2017). The Privateer web app runs on the user's computer and keeps all data local, making these investigations truly private (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9K27HvhDxA).

Figure 1 The Privateer web app.

The communication is accompanied by a video in which the corresponding author Jon Agirre (also one of the Section Editors of Acta Cryst. F) succinctly explains the main features and usefulness of the web app. In addition to being available from the journal website the video can also be found on the IUCr YouTube channel (https://youtu.be/WDnmfgI_zB8). In future issues of our journal, we plan to solicit and include more video content. This could take the shape of a brief explanation like here, or structured interviews with one of more of the authors of published articles. Apart from interesting aspects of the papers, these interviews may also treat backgrounds of the authors or salient details of how the paper came about. In certain cases a `how-to' video might also be appropriate. As examples we can think of new ways to handle protein crystals or electron microscopy grids, but also novel ways to produce biological molecules or step-by-step instructions on how to install and run innovative software. We gladly welcome suggestions for video content made by our authors!