The eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is well accepted in several different Web application areas. As soon as many users and applications work concurrently on the same collection of XML documents - e.g. on an XML database via a Web interface-isolating accesses and modifications of different transactions becomes an important issue.We discuss four different core protocols for synchronizing access to and modifications of XML document collections. These core protocols synchronize structure traversals and modifications. They are meant to be integrated into a native XML base management System (XBMS) and are based on two phase locking. We also demonstrate the different degrees of cooperation that are possible with these protocols.