GlycoRNAdb: a database of glycoRNA sequences, structures, abundance, and glycan information across tissues and cell lines

Nucleic Acids Res. 2025 Nov 22:gkaf1246. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkaf1246. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Glycosylated RNAs (glycoRNAs), recently discovered as cell surface molecules modified by complex N-glycans, represent a transformative frontier in RNA biology with emerging roles in immune regulation and intercellular communication. To address the lack of a dedicated resource, we developed GlycoRNAdb (http://www.glycornadb.com), the first comprehensive database integrating experimentally supported, specifically enriched glycoRNA sequences with associated glycosylation sites, secondary structures, expression profiles, and glycan composition from human and mouse tissues and cell lines. Data were curated from public datasets and processed via specialized pipelines to identify enriched glycoRNAs. The database contains 3379 curated entries, each annotated with sequence, structure (experimentally determined or R2DT-predicted), glycosylation sites, expression patterns, and detailed glycan information (composition, linkages, and tissue distribution). Built with a FAIR-compliant architecture, GlycoRNAdb offers advanced search, BLAST-based homology search, JBrowse-based genome browser, and interactive visualizations of structures, modification maps, heatmaps, and glycan chemistry. It enables exploration of cell-type-specific modification patterns, sequence-structure relationships, and modifications located proximal to glycosylation sites, such as acp³U, as demonstrated by case studies on snoRNAs and tRNAs. By unifying scattered glycoRNA data into a centralized, analytically rich platform, GlycoRNAdb serves as an indispensable resource to accelerate research into the biological functions and therapeutic potential of this novel class of RNA molecules.

PMID:41273091 | DOI:10.1093/nar/gkaf1246