Challenges in Computational Analysis of Mass Spectrometry Data for Proteomics

Mass spectrometry is an analytical technique for determining the composition of a sample. Recently it has become a primary tool for protein identification and quantification, and post translational modification characterization in proteomics research. Both the size and the complexity of the data produced by this experimental technique impose great computational challenges in the data analysis. This article reviews some of these challenges and serves as an entry point for those who want to study the area in ...     

Proteomics in Drug Development: The Dawn of a New Era?

Mass spectrometry offers the potential of acquiring high resolution data depicting the functional status of a group of healthy or diseased individuals, according to different conditions. As most of the drugs are currently targeting proteins, proteomics has a dual value, both in the discovery of new molecules as therapeutic targets, but also as a methodology to perform high throughput drug profiling. As there is an evident need for drugs to be improved in terms of efficacy, a mechanistic insight for downstream effectors can be valuable in order to predict side effects and resistance mechanisms. Recently developed assays, like thermal proteome profiling enables comprehensive drug target profiling and is, therefore, of high value in drug discovery. In this review, a systematic literature search is conducted and the most prominent proteomics studies as implicated in assisting drug discovery and development is presented. Focus is placed on investigations that are closer to implementation, therefore particular emphasis is given in studies conducted in human diseased population and further verified in vitro or in vivo.     

PRIME: A Mass Spectrum Data Mining Tool for <Emphasis Type="Italic">De Nova</Emphasis> Sequencing and PTMs Identification

De novo sequencing is one of the most promising proteomics techniques for identification of protein posttranslation modifications (PTMs) in studying protein regulations and functions. We have developed a computer tool PRIME for identification of b and y ions in tandem mass spectra, a key challenging problem in de novo sequencing. PRIME utilizes a feature that ions of the same and different types follow different mass-difference distributions to separate b from y ions correctly. We have formulated the problem as a graph partition problem. A linear integer-programming algorithm has been implemented to solve the graph partition problem rigorously and efficiently. The performance of PRIME has been demonstrated on a large amount of simulated tandem mass spectra derived from Yeast genome and its power of detecting PTMs has been tested on 216 simulated phosphopeptides.     

基于图卷积神经网络的串联质谱从头测序

在蛋白质组学中从头测序是串联质谱肽段测序的重要方法之一,其具有不依赖于蛋白质数据库的优势,并在测定未知物种蛋白序列、单克隆抗体测序等领域中起着关键作用.然而由于从头测序的复杂性,导致其测序的准确率远低于数据库搜索方法,制约了从头测序的广泛应用.针对从头测序准确率低的问题,提出一种基于图卷积神经网络(GCN)的从头测序方...