Analysis and validation of overall N-glycan conformation in Privateer.

The oligosaccharides in N-glycosylation provide key structural and functional contributions to a glycoprotein. These contributions are dependent on the composition and overall conformation of the glycans. The Privateer software allows structural biologists to evaluate and improve the atomic structures of carbohydrates, including N-glycans; this software has recently been extended to check glycan composition through the use of glycomics data. Here, a broadening of the scope of the software to analyse and validate the overall conformation of N-glycans is presented, focusing on a newly compiled set of glycosidic linkage torsional preferences harvested from a curated set of glycoprotein models.