title: Performance Evaluation and Online Realization of Data-driven Normalization Methods Used in LC/MS based Untargeted Metabolomics Analysis.
abstract: In untargeted metabolomics analysis, several factors (e.g., unwanted experimental &biological variations and technical errors) may hamper the identification of differential metabolic features, which requires the data-driven normalization approaches before feature selection. So far, ≥16 normalization methods have been widely applied for processing the LC/MS based metabolomics data. However, the performance and the sample size dependence of those methods have not yet been exhaustively compared and no online tool for comparatively and comprehensively evaluating the performance of all 16 normalization methods has been provided. In this study, a comprehensive comparison on these methods was conducted. As a result, 16 methods were categorized into three groups based on their normalization performances across various sample sizes. The VSN, the Log Transformation and the PQN were identified as methods of the best normalization performance, while the Contrast consistently underperformed across all sub-datasets of different benchmark data. Moreover, an interactive web tool comprehensively evaluating the performance of 16 methods specifically for normalizing LC/MS based metabolomics data was constructed and hosted at http://server.idrb.cqu.edu.cn/MetaPre/. In summary, this study could serve as a useful guidance to the selection of suitable normalization methods in analyzing the LC/MS based metabolomics data.
authors.affiliation: Innovative Drug Research and Bioinformatics Group, Innovative Drug Research Centre and School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Innovative Drug Research and Bioinformatics Group, Innovative Drug Research Centre and School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Innovative Drug Research and Bioinformatics Group, Innovative Drug Research Centre and School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China.
authors.forename: Qingxia
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Innovative Drug Research and Bioinformatics Group, Innovative Drug Research Centre and School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China.
authors.forename: Xuejiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Innovative Drug Research and Bioinformatics Group, Innovative Drug Research Centre and School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China.
authors.forename: Shuang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Mathematics and Statistics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China.
authors.forename: Sijie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Innovative Drug Research and Bioinformatics Group, Innovative Drug Research Centre and School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China.
authors.forename: Quanxing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Innovative Drug Research and Bioinformatics Group, Innovative Drug Research Centre and School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China.
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: Innovative Drug Research and Bioinformatics Group, Innovative Drug Research Centre and School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Innovative Drug Research and Bioinformatics Group, Innovative Drug Research Centre and School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D020407:Internet; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D055432:Metabolomics / Q000379:methods*; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012984:Software