REStLESS: Automated translation of glycan sequences from residue-based notation to SMILES and atomic coordinates

Abstract

Motivation: Glycans and glycoconjugates are usually recorded in dedicated databases in residuebased notations. Only a few of them can be converted into chemical (atom-based) formats highly demanded in conformational and biochemical studies. In this work, we present a tool for translation from a residue-based glycan notation to SMILES. Results: The REStLESS algorithm for translation from the CSDB Linear notation to SMILES was developed. REStLESS stands for ResiduEs as SMILES and LinkagEs as SMARTS, where SMARTS reaction expressions are used to merge pre-encoded residues into a molecule. The implementation supports virtually all structural features reported in natural carbohydrates and glycoconjugates. The translator is equipped with a mechanism for conversion of SMILES strings into optimized atomic coordinates which can be used as starting geometries for various computational tasks.