Isotopologue Grouping By Mass Accuracy

isotopologue-grouping-by-mass-accuracy

Summary

Identify base-peak isotopologue groupings from putative stable-isotope incorporations by matching m/z pairs within specified mass accuracy tolerance and intensity thresholds. This skill links enriched features to their unlabeled and labeled isotope counterparts in LC/MS untargeted metabolomics.

When to use

Apply this skill after PuInc_seeker has identified putative incorporations in a stable-isotope-labeled LC/MS dataset (e.g., CELL_Glc12 unlabeled vs. CELL_Glc13 labeled samples). Use it when you need to resolve base-peak isotopologue pairs from feature clusters, accounting for instrumental mass accuracy limits and signal intensity.

When NOT to use

• Input has not been processed through PuInc_seeker; basepeak_finder requires putative incorporation annotations as input.
• XCMS peak picking, alignment, and grouping have not been completed; the XCMSet must be a fully processed feature matrix.
• Mass accuracy of the instrument is >6.5 ppm or unknown; the 6.5 ppm threshold is specific to the mtbls213 dataset and may require recalibration for other instruments or datasets.

Inputs

• PuInc_seeker output (putative incorporation result object)
• XCMS peak group object (XCMSet)
• sample class labels (ULtag for unlabeled, Ltag for labeled)

Outputs

• geoRge object with identified base-peak isotopologue groupings
• m/z-intensity pairs annotated with isotope assignment and sample origin

How to apply

Execute the basepeak_finder function on PuInc_seeker output, specifying unlabeled atom mass (12.0 for carbon-12), labeled atom mass (13.003355 for carbon-13), mass accuracy tolerance (6.5 ppm for the mtbls213 dataset), and base-peak minimum intensity threshold (2000). The function matches m/z values between the two sample groups (ULtag and Ltag) using front-position logic to group isotopologue pairs. The algorithm filters out low-intensity noise and resolves ambiguous mass assignments by enforcing the ppm tolerance window. Validate output by confirming the geoRge object contains isotope-pair annotations with m/z, intensity, and sample-group tags intact.

Related tools

• geoRge (Host R package providing basepeak_finder and related isotope-detection functions) — https://github.com/jcapelladesto/geoRge
• XCMS (Prerequisite peak picking, alignment, and grouping to produce the XCMSet input) — https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/xcms.html
• R (Execution environment for basepeak_finder function)

Examples

s2 <- basepeak_finder(PuIncR = s1, XCMSet = mtbls213, UL.atomM=12.0, L.atomM=13.003355, ppm.s=6.5, Basepeak.minInt=2000)

Evaluation signals

• Output geoRge object contains non-empty isotope-pair annotations with both m/z and intensity fields populated.
• All paired isotopologues fall within the specified mass accuracy tolerance (6.5 ppm) for the labeled–unlabeled mass difference.
• Base-peak intensities in the output are ≥2000, confirming the minimum intensity threshold was applied.
• Sample group tags (ULtag, Ltag) are correctly assigned to paired features, with no cross-contamination.
• Number of identified base peaks is consistent with the putative incorporation count from PuInc_seeker, accounting for p-value and fold-change filtering.

Limitations

• Mass accuracy tolerance (6.5 ppm) is calibrated to the mtbls213 dataset; different instruments or chromatographic conditions may require recalibration.
• Minimum intensity threshold (2000) is dataset-specific and may suppress weak labeling signals in low-abundance metabolites.
• Requires preceding execution of PuInc_seeker; cannot operate on raw XCMS output without fold-change and p-value filtering.
• Front-position matching logic (sep.pos.front=TRUE) assumes stable retention-time alignment; misaligned peaks across samples may produce spurious or missed pairings.
• No changelog documented; version compatibility with recent XCMS and R versions unclear.

Evidence

• [other] The basepeak_finder function operates on PuInc_seeker output and uses unlabeled atom mass (12.0), labeled atom mass (13.003355), mass accuracy tolerance (6.5 ppm), and minimum intensity threshold (2000) to identify base-peak isotopologue groupings: "The basepeak_finder function operates on PuInc_seeker output and uses unlabeled atom mass (12.0), labeled atom mass (13.003355), mass accuracy tolerance (6.5 ppm), and minimum intensity threshold"
• [other] Validate that the resulting geoRge object contains identified base peaks with m/z, intensity, and isotope-pair annotations.: "Validate that the resulting geoRge object contains identified base peaks with m/z, intensity, and isotope-pair annotations."
• [intro] basepeak_finder function to identify base peaks with specified mass accuracy and intensity thresholds: "basepeak_finder function to identify base peaks with specified mass accuracy and intensity thresholds"
• [readme] s2 <- basepeak_finder(PuIncR = s1, XCMSet = mtbls213, UL.atomM=12.0,L.atomM=13.003355, ppm.s=6.5,Basepeak.minInt=2000): "s2 <- basepeak_finder(PuIncR = s1, XCMSet = mtbls213, UL.atomM=12.0,L.atomM=13.003355, ppm.s=6.5,Basepeak.minInt=2000)"
• [methods] Use XCMS package (https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/xcms.html) for peak picking, alignment and grouping: "Use XCMS package (https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/xcms.html) for peak picking, alignment and grouping"