The STRENDA Biocatalysis Guidelines for cataloguing metadata

As all research fields, applied biocatalysis faces an urgent need for the improvement of the reproducibility of experimentation and the quality of reporting of research data. In an interdisciplinary and international effort, experimental and computational biocatalysis researchers have established a collaborative, extendable, and flexible metadata catalogue for the comprehensive description of experimental biocatalysis data. Based on the integration of the STRENDA Guidelines for reporting enzymology data, existing metadata standards and additional expert knowledge, a standardized and modular catalogue was developed which includes decision trees reflecting the high complexity of biocatalysis experimental setups. The catalogue provides a framework for researchers in the field of biocatalysis. The current version focuses on metadata that describe the enzymatic transformation. This catalogue is accessible on a GitHub repository that allows the community to access, use, navigate through the categories, suggest modifications and discuss any catalogue-related issues. The modular design allows for adaptation to a wide range of experimental setups, ensuring flexibility and adjustment to future needs. Its compatibility with software-driven research data management enhances seamless integration into Python code and serves as a basis for programming and modeling efforts. To facilitate acceptance by the community, direct communication between experimenters and software developers is promoted through the GitHub platform at https://w3id.org/strenda/biocatalysisguidelines. A continuous improvement of the STRENDA Biocatalysis Guidelines is expected, and contributions by the community are welcome.