| name | proteomics-analysis |
| description | ToolUniverse workflow — Proteomics Analysis |
| source | https://github.com/mims-harvard/ToolUniverse/tree/main/skills/tooluniverse-proteomics-analysis |
| metadata | null |
name: tooluniverse-proteomics-analysis
description: Analyze mass spectrometry proteomics data including protein quantification, differential expression, post-translational modifications (PTMs), and protein-protein interactions. Processes MaxQuant, Spectronaut, DIA-NN, and other MS platform outputs. Performs normalization, statistical analysis, pathway enrichment, and integration with transcriptomics. Use when analyzing proteomics data, comparing protein abundance between conditions, identifying PTM changes, studying protein complexes, integrating protein and RNA data, discovering protein biomarkers, or conducting quantitative proteomics experiments.
Proteomics Analysis
Comprehensive analysis of mass spectrometry-based proteomics data from protein identification through quantification, differential expression, post-translational modifications, and systems-level interpretation.
When to Use This Skill
Triggers:
- User has proteomics data (MS output files)
- Questions about protein abundance or expression
- Differential protein expression analysis requests
- PTM analysis (phosphorylation, acetylation, ubiquitination)
- Protein-RNA correlation analysis
- Multi-omics integration involving proteomics
- Protein complex or interaction analysis
- Proteomics biomarker discovery
Example Questions This Skill Solves:
- "Analyze this MaxQuant output for differential protein expression"
- "Which proteins are significantly upregulated in disease vs control?"
- "Correlate protein abundance with mRNA expression"
- "What post-translational modifications change between conditions?"
- "Identify protein complexes in my co-IP MS data"
- "Which pathways are enriched in differentially expressed proteins?"
- "Find protein biomarkers for disease classification"
- "Compare protein and RNA levels to identify translation-regulated genes"
Core Capabilities
| Capability | Description |
|---|
| Data Import | MaxQuant, Spectronaut, DIA-NN, Proteome Discoverer, FragPipe outputs |
| Quality Control | Missing value analysis, intensity distributions, sample clustering |
| Normalization | Median, quantile, TMM, VSN normalization methods |
| Imputation | MinProb, KNN, QRILC for missing values |
| Differential Expression | Limma, DEP, MSstats for statistical testing |
| PTM Analysis | Phospho-site localization, PTM enrichment, kinase prediction |
| Protein-RNA Integration | Correlation analysis, translation efficiency |
| Pathway Enrichment | Over-representation and GSEA for protein sets |
| PPI Analysis | Protein complex detection, interaction networks via STRING/IntAct |
| Reporting | Comprehensive reports with volcano plots, heatmaps, pathway diagrams |
Workflow Overview
Input: MS Proteomics Data
|
v
Phase 1: Data Import & QC
|-- Load MaxQuant/Spectronaut/DIA-NN output
|-- Parse protein groups, intensities, modifications
|-- Quality control plots (missing values, intensity distributions)
|-- Sample correlation and PCA
|
v
Phase 2: Preprocessing
|-- Filter low-confidence proteins
|-- Handle missing values (imputation or filtering)
|-- Log-transform intensities
|-- Normalize across samples
|
v
Phase 3: Differential Expression Analysis
|-- Statistical testing (limma, t-test, ANOVA)
|-- Multiple testing correction (BH, Bonferroni)
|-- Fold change calculation
|-- Significance thresholds (p < 0.05, |log2FC| > 1)
|
v
Phase 4: PTM Analysis (if applicable)
|-- Identify modified peptides
|-- Localization probability filtering
|-- PTM site quantification
|-- Kinase-substrate prediction
|-- PTM enrichment analysis
|
v
Phase 5: Functional Enrichment
|-- Gene Ontology enrichment
|-- KEGG/Reactome pathway enrichment
|-- Protein complex enrichment (CORUM)
|-- Tissue-specific enrichment
|
v
Phase 6: Protein-Protein Interactions
|-- Query STRING for interaction networks
|-- Identify protein complexes
|-- Network clustering and modules
|-- Hub protein identification
|
v
Phase 7: Multi-Omics Integration (optional)
|-- Correlate with RNA-seq data
|-- Identify translation-regulated proteins
|-- Compare with variant/CNV data
|-- Integrate with metabolomics
|
v
Phase 8: Generate Report
|-- Summary statistics
|-- Volcano plots and heatmaps
|-- Pathway diagrams
|-- Protein network visualizations
|-- Multi-omics integration plots
Phase Details
Phase 1: Data Import & Quality Control
Objective: Load proteomics data and assess data quality.
Supported input formats:
MaxQuant (most common):
proteinGroups.txt - Protein-level quantification
evidence.txt - Peptide-level data
Phospho (STY)Sites.txt - Phosphorylation sites
modificationSpecificPeptides.txt - Other PTMs
Spectronaut:
*_Report.tsv - Protein/peptide quantification
- DIA-based quantification
DIA-NN:
report.tsv - Protein groups
report.pr_matrix.tsv - Protein matrix
Proteome Discoverer:
*_Proteins.txt
*_PSMs.txt
Data loading:
def load_maxquant_proteins(protein_groups_file):
"""
Load MaxQuant proteinGroups.txt file.
Returns:
- DataFrame with proteins as rows, samples as columns
- Metadata (protein names, gene names, sequence coverage)
"""
import pandas as pd
df = pd.read_csv(protein_groups_file, sep='\t')
intensity_cols = [col for col in df.columns if 'LFQ intensity' in col or 'Intensity ' in col]
intensity_matrix = df[intensity_cols].copy()
intensity_matrix.columns = [col.replace('LFQ intensity ', '').replace('Intensity ', '')
for col in intensity_cols]
metadata = df[['Protein IDs', 'Gene names', 'Fasta headers',
'Peptides', 'Sequence coverage [%]']].copy()
return intensity_matrix, metadata
Quality Control:
- Missing value assessment:
def assess_missing_values(intensity_matrix):
"""
Calculate percentage of missing values per protein and sample.
"""
missing_per_protein = (intensity_matrix == 0).sum(axis=1) / intensity_matrix.shape[1]
missing_per_sample = (intensity_matrix == 0).sum(axis=0) / intensity_matrix.shape[0]
plot_missing_value_heatmap(intensity_matrix)
return missing_per_protein, missing_per_sample
- Intensity distribution:
def plot_intensity_distributions(intensity_matrix):
"""
Plot log10 intensity distributions per sample.
Check for consistent distributions across samples.
"""
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
log_intensities = np.log10(intensity_matrix.replace(0, np.nan))
log_intensities.plot(kind='box')
plt.ylabel('log10 Intensity')
plt.title('Intensity Distribution per Sample')
- Sample correlation:
def plot_sample_correlation(intensity_matrix):
"""
Calculate and visualize sample-sample correlation.
Expect: High correlation within replicates, lower between conditions.
"""
log_data = np.log2(intensity_matrix.replace(0, np.nan))
corr_matrix = log_data.corr(method='pearson')
import seaborn as sns
sns.heatmap(corr_matrix, annot=True, cmap='RdYlBu_r', vmin=0.8, vmax=1.0)
- PCA:
def perform_pca(intensity_matrix, sample_groups):
"""
Principal component analysis for sample clustering.
"""
from sklearn.decomposition import PCA
log_data = np.log2(intensity_matrix.replace(0, np.nan))
imputed = log_data.fillna(log_data.min().min())
pca = PCA(n_components=2)
pca_result = pca.fit_transform(imputed.T)
plt.scatter(pca_result[:, 0], pca_result[:, 1], c=sample_groups)
plt.xlabel(f'PC1 ({pca.explained_variance_ratio_[0]:.1%})')
plt.ylabel(f'PC2 ({pca.explained_variance_ratio_[1]:.1%})')
Phase 2: Preprocessing & Normalization
Objective: Clean data and normalize across samples for fair comparison.
Filtering:
def filter_proteins(intensity_matrix, metadata, min_valid=3):
"""
Filter out low-confidence proteins.
Criteria:
- At least 2 unique peptides (from metadata)
- At least min_valid samples with detected intensity
- Remove contaminants and reverse sequences
"""
valid_proteins = metadata['Peptides'] >= 2
n_detected = (intensity_matrix > 0).sum(axis=1)
valid_detection = n_detected >= min_valid
is_contaminant = metadata['Protein IDs'].str.contains('CON__', na=False)
is_reverse = metadata['Protein IDs'].str.contains('REV__', na=False)
keep = valid_proteins & valid_detection & ~is_contaminant & ~is_reverse
return intensity_matrix[keep], metadata[keep]
Missing value imputation:
def impute_missing_values(intensity_matrix, method='MinProb'):
"""
Impute missing protein intensities.
Methods:
- MinProb: Random from minimum observed + normal noise (for MNAR)
- KNN: K-nearest neighbors imputation
- QRILC: Quantile regression-based imputation
"""
if method == 'MinProb':
min_val = intensity_matrix[intensity_matrix > 0].min().min()
width = 0.3
shift = 1.8
imputed = intensity_matrix.copy()
missing_mask = imputed == 0
n_missing = missing_mask.sum().sum()
random_vals = np.random.normal(
loc=min_val - shift,
scale=width,
size=n_missing
)
imputed.values[missing_mask.values] = random_vals
return imputed
elif method == 'KNN':
from sklearn.impute import KNNImputer
imputer = KNNImputer(n_neighbors=5)
imputed = pd.DataFrame(
imputer.fit_transform(intensity_matrix.replace(0, np.nan)),
index=intensity_matrix.index,
columns=intensity_matrix.columns
)
return imputed
Normalization:
def normalize_intensities(intensity_matrix, method='median'):
"""
Normalize protein intensities across samples.
Methods:
- median: Divide by median intensity per sample
- quantile: Quantile normalization (same distribution)
- TMM: Trimmed mean of M-values (from edgeR)
- VSN: Variance-stabilizing normalization
"""
if method == 'median':
medians = intensity_matrix.median(axis=0)
global_median = medians.median()
norm_factors = global_median / medians
normalized = intensity_matrix * norm_factors
return normalized
elif method == 'quantile':
from sklearn.preprocessing import quantile_transform
normalized = pd.DataFrame(
quantile_transform(intensity_matrix, axis=1),
index=intensity_matrix.index,
columns=intensity_matrix.columns
)
return normalized
Phase 3: Differential Expression Analysis
Objective: Identify proteins with significant abundance changes between conditions.
Statistical testing with limma:
def differential_expression_limma(log2_intensities, group1_samples, group2_samples):
"""
Perform differential expression using limma-like approach.
Returns:
- log2 fold changes
- p-values
- adjusted p-values (BH)
"""
from scipy import stats
results = []
for protein in log2_intensities.index:
group1 = log2_intensities.loc[protein, group1_samples]
group2 = log2_intensities.loc[protein, group2_samples]
mean1 = group1.mean()
mean2 = group2.mean()
log2fc = mean2 - mean1
t_stat, p_value = stats.ttest_ind(group1, group2, equal_var=False)
results.append({
'protein': protein,
'log2FC': log2fc,
'mean_group1': mean1,
'mean_group2': mean2,
'p_value': p_value,
't_statistic': t_stat
})
results_df = pd.DataFrame(results)
from statsmodels.stats.multitest import multipletests
results_df['adj_p_value'] = multipletests(results_df['p_value'], method='fdr_bh')[1]
results_df['significant'] = (
(results_df['adj_p_value'] < 0.05) &
(np.abs(results_df['log2FC']) > 1.0)
)
return results_df
Volcano plot:
def plot_volcano(de_results, title='Volcano Plot'):
"""
Visualize differential expression results.
"""
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.figure(figsize=(8, 6))
non_sig = de_results[~de_results['significant']]
plt.scatter(non_sig['log2FC'], -np.log10(non_sig['p_value']),
c='gray', alpha=0.5, s=10)
sig = de_results[de_results['significant']]
plt.scatter(sig['log2FC'], -np.log10(sig['p_value']),
c='red', alpha=0.7, s=20)
plt.axhline(-np.log10(0.05), color='blue', linestyle='--', label='p=0.05')
plt.axvline(-1, color='blue', linestyle='--')
plt.axvline(1, color='blue', linestyle='--', label='|log2FC|=1')
plt.xlabel('log2 Fold Change')
plt.ylabel('-log10(p-value)')
plt.title(title)
plt.legend()
Phase 4: PTM Analysis
Objective: Analyze post-translational modifications (phosphorylation, acetylation, etc.)
Phosphoproteomics workflow:
def analyze_phosphosites(phospho_sites_file, intensity_matrix):
"""
Analyze phosphorylation site changes.
Input: MaxQuant Phospho (STY)Sites.txt
Output: Differential phosphorylation per site
"""
phospho = pd.read_csv(phospho_sites_file, sep='\t')
phospho_confident = phospho[phospho['Localization prob'] > 0.75]
phospho_confident['site'] = (
phospho_confident['Gene names'] + '_' +
phospho_confident['Amino acid'] +
phospho_confident['Position'].astype(str)
)
return phospho_results
Kinase-substrate prediction:
def predict_kinases(phospho_sites):
"""
Predict upstream kinases for phosphorylation sites.
Uses ToolUniverse PhosphoSitePlus or KEA3 tools.
"""
from tooluniverse import ToolUniverse
tu = ToolUniverse()
kinase_predictions = []
for site in phospho_sites:
result = tu.run_one_function({
"name": "phosphosite_plus_query",
"arguments": {"site": site}
})
kinase_predictions.append(result)
return kinase_predictions
Phase 5: Functional Enrichment
Objective: Interpret biological meaning of protein changes via pathway analysis.
Gene Ontology enrichment:
def pathway_enrichment_proteins(de_proteins, organism='human'):
"""
Perform pathway enrichment for differentially expressed proteins.
Uses ToolUniverse gene-enrichment skill.
"""
from tooluniverse import ToolUniverse
tu = ToolUniverse()
sig_proteins = de_proteins[de_proteins['significant']]
gene_list = sig_proteins['gene_name'].tolist()
enrichment = tu.run_one_function({
"name": "enrichr_enrich",
"arguments": {
"gene_list": ",".join(gene_list),
"library": "KEGG_2021_Human"
}
})
return enrichment
Protein complex enrichment:
def protein_complex_enrichment(protein_list):
"""
Test for enrichment of known protein complexes (CORUM database).
"""
pass
Phase 6: Protein-Protein Interactions
Objective: Identify interaction networks and protein complexes.
STRING network analysis:
def build_protein_network(protein_list, confidence=0.7):
"""
Build PPI network using STRING database.
Uses ToolUniverse STRING tools.
"""
from tooluniverse import ToolUniverse
tu = ToolUniverse()
interactions = tu.run_one_function({
"name": "string_get_interactions",
"arguments": {
"proteins": ",".join(protein_list),
"species": 9606,
"score_threshold": int(confidence * 1000)
}
})
import networkx as nx
G = nx.Graph()
for interaction in interactions['data']:
G.add_edge(
interaction['protein1'],
interaction['protein2'],
score=interaction['score']
)
return G
Module detection:
def detect_protein_modules(network_graph):
"""
Identify tightly connected protein modules (complexes).
"""
from networkx.algorithms import community
communities = community.greedy_modularity_communities(network_graph)
modules = []
for i, comm in enumerate(communities):
module_proteins = list(comm)
enrichment = pathway_enrichment_proteins(module_proteins)
modules.append({
'module_id': i,
'proteins': module_proteins,
'size': len(module_proteins),
'top_function': enrichment['top_terms'][0]
})
return modules
Phase 7: Multi-Omics Integration
Objective: Integrate proteomics with transcriptomics and other omics.
Protein-RNA correlation:
def correlate_protein_rna(protein_data, rna_data, common_samples):
"""
Correlate protein and mRNA levels for each gene.
Expected: r ~ 0.4-0.6 (moderate correlation)
Discordance indicates post-transcriptional regulation
"""
from scipy.stats import spearmanr
common_genes = set(protein_data.index) & set(rna_data.index)
correlations = {}
for gene in common_genes:
protein = protein_data.loc[gene, common_samples]
rna = rna_data.loc[gene, common_samples]
r, p = spearmanr(protein, rna)
correlations[gene] = {
'r': r,
'p': p,
'regulation': classify_regulation(r, protein.mean(), rna.mean())
}
return correlations
def classify_regulation(r, protein_level, rna_level):
"""
Classify regulatory mechanism based on correlation and levels.
"""
if r > 0.6 and protein_level > 0 and rna_level > 0:
return 'transcriptional_upregulation'
elif r > 0.6 and protein_level < 0 and rna_level < 0:
return 'transcriptional_downregulation'
elif r < 0.2 and protein_level > 0 and rna_level < 0:
return
r < protein_level < rna_level > :
:
Integration with multi-omics skill:
def integrate_with_multiomics(protein_data, rna_data, methylation_data):
"""
Pass proteomics data to multi-omics integration skill.
Enables comprehensive analysis across all molecular layers.
"""
omics_data = {
'proteomics': protein_data,
'rnaseq': rna_data,
'methylation': methylation_data
}
from tooluniverse import ToolUniverse
return integrated_analysis
Phase 8: Report Generation
Generate comprehensive proteomics report:
# Proteomics Analysis Report
## Dataset Summary
- **Samples**: 20 (10 disease, 10 control)
- **Proteins Identified**: 5,432
- **Proteins Quantified**: 4,987 (at least 3 samples)
- **Platform**: Orbitrap Fusion Lumos, MaxQuant 2.0
## Quality Control
- **Missing Values**: 15% average per protein
- **Sample Correlation**: 0.92-0.98 within groups
- **PCA**: Clear separation between disease and control (PC1: 35% variance)
## Differential Expression
- **Significant Proteins**: 432 (adj. p < 0.05, |log2FC| > 1)
- Upregulated: 245 proteins
- Downregulated: 187 proteins
- **Top upregulated**: MYC (log2FC=3.2), EGFR (log2FC=2.8)
- **Top downregulated**: TP53 (log2FC=-2.5), BRCA1 (log2FC=-2.1)
## Phosphoproteomics
- **Phosphosites Quantified**: 8,543
- **Differentially Phosphorylated**: 234 sites (p < 0.05)
- **Top Predicted Kinases**: CDK1, MAPK1, AKT1
## Pathway Enrichment
### Top Pathways (Upregulated)
1. **Cell Cycle** (p=1e-15) - 45 proteins, including cyclins, CDKs
2. **DNA Replication** (p=1e-12) - 23 proteins
3. **Glycolysis** (p=1e-10) - 18 proteins
### Top Pathways (Downregulated)
1. **Apoptosis** (p=1e-14) - 32 proteins, including caspases
(p=1e-11) - 28 proteins
(p=1e-9) - 25 proteins
: 432 nodes, 1,245 edges (STRING confidence > 0.7)
: 8 functional modules
Module 1: Cell cycle (85 proteins)
Module 2: Metabolism (62 proteins)
Module 3: Translation (48 proteins)
: r = 0.54 (moderate, expected)
: 2,134 genes (r > 0.6) - transcriptional regulation
: 456 genes (r < 0.2) - post-transcriptional regulation
: 89 proteins (high protein, low RNA)
Disease state shows increased proliferation (MYC, cyclins) with concurrent
suppression of apoptosis and DNA repair (TP53, BRCA1). Metabolic shift toward
glycolysis evident at protein level. Post-transcriptional upregulation of
translation machinery suggests adaptation to proliferative demands.
Top 10 proteins for disease classification (Random Forest AUC=0.95):
MYC (protein)
EGFR (protein)
CDK1 (phospho-T161)
TP53 (protein)
BRCA1 (protein)
Integration with ToolUniverse
Skills Coordinated:
| Skill | Used For | Phase |
|---|
tooluniverse-gene-enrichment | Pathway enrichment | Phase 5 |
tooluniverse-protein-interactions | PPI networks | Phase 6 |
tooluniverse-rnaseq-deseq2 | RNA-seq for integration | Phase 7 |
tooluniverse-multi-omics-integration | Cross-omics analysis | Phase 7 |
tooluniverse-target-research | Protein annotation | Phase 8 |
Example Use Cases
Use Case 1: Cancer Proteomics
Question: "Analyze proteomics data from breast cancer vs normal tissue"
Workflow:
- Load MaxQuant proteinGroups.txt
- QC and filter (keep proteins with 2+ peptides, detected in 3+ samples)
- Impute missing, normalize by median
- Differential expression (limma): 432 significant proteins
- Pathway enrichment: Cell cycle, metabolism upregulated
- STRING network: Identify hub proteins (MYC, EGFR)
- Integrate with TCGA RNA-seq: Find translation-regulated genes
- Report: Comprehensive analysis with biomarkers
Use Case 2: Phosphoproteomics Signaling
Question: "What kinase signaling is activated in response to drug treatment?"
Workflow:
- Load Phospho (STY)Sites.txt from MaxQuant
- Filter by localization probability > 0.75
- Differential phosphorylation analysis
- Kinase prediction for significant sites
- Identify MAPK1, CDK1, AKT1 as top kinases
- Pathway enrichment: MAPK, PI3K/AKT pathways
- Report: Drug activates growth signaling
Use Case 3: Protein-RNA Integration
Question: "Which proteins are regulated post-transcriptionally?"
Workflow:
- Load proteomics (MaxQuant) and RNA-seq (DESeq2) data
- Match samples, extract common genes
- Correlate protein and RNA for each gene
- Identify low-correlation genes (r < 0.2)
- Classify: translation upregulation, protein degradation
- Enrichment: Find pathways enriched in post-transcriptional regulation
- Report: 89 translation-regulated proteins, RNA-binding proteins enriched
Quantified Minimums
| Component | Requirement |
|---|
| Proteins quantified | At least 500 proteins |
| Replicates | At least 3 per condition |
| Filtering | 2+ unique peptides per protein |
| Statistical test | limma or t-test with multiple testing correction |
| Pathway enrichment | At least one method (GO, KEGG, or Reactome) |
| Report | Summary, QC, DE results, pathways, visualizations |
Limitations
- Platform-specific: Optimized for MS-based proteomics (not Western blot quantification)
- Missing values: High missing rate (>50% per protein) limits statistical power
- PTM analysis: Requires enrichment protocols for comprehensive PTM profiling
- Absolute quantification: Relative abundance only (unless TMT/SILAC used)
- Protein isoforms: Typically collapsed to gene level
- Dynamic range: MS has limited dynamic range vs mRNA sequencing
References
Methods:
Databases: