Lcms Metabolomics Data Processing

lcms-metabolomics-data-processing

Summary

Execute a containerized Nextflow workflow to process liquid chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) metabolomics data from raw .mzML or .abf format through MS-DIAL feature detection and peak alignment, followed by MSFLO annotation and statistical analysis. This skill ensures reproducible metabolomics pipelines across local, containerized, and high-performance computing environments.

When to use

You have raw LC-HRMS metabolomics data in .mzML or .abf format and need to perform feature detection, chromatographic alignment, metabolite annotation, and statistical processing in a reproducible, portable manner across macOS, Linux, or HPC systems without installing MS-DIAL or MSFLO natively.

When NOT to use

• Input data is already a processed feature table or abundance matrix (use downstream statistical analysis or visualization skills instead).
• Raw mass spectrometry data is in proprietary formats other than .mzML or .abf without prior conversion (convert using ProteoWizard msConvert or Reifycs Abf Converter first).
• Execution environment lacks Docker or Singularity container runtime and native MS-DIAL/MSFLO installation is not available.

Inputs

• .mzML or .abf raw LC-HRMS data files
• MS-DIAL parameter configuration file (msdial_params.txt)
• MS-FLO parameter configuration file (msflo_params.ini)
• MS1 reference library (ms1_lib.txt)
• MS2 reference library (ms2_lib.msp)

Outputs

• Feature table (.tsv format, converted from .msdial)
• Aligned and annotated metabolite features
• execution_report.html (workflow runtime and resource summary)
• execution_timeline.html (per-process execution timeline)
• logs/execution.log (process-level logs and metadata)

How to apply

Clone the Nextflow4MS-DIAL repository and install Nextflow (≥22.10.0) and either Docker (for local execution) or Singularity (for HPC). Prepare raw metabolomics data in the data/raw_data/ directory as .mzML or .abf files, then place MS-DIAL configuration (msdial_params.txt), MS-FLO configuration (msflo_params.ini), and reference libraries (ms1_lib.txt, ms2_lib.msp) in the data/ folder. Execute the pipeline using nextflow run main.nf -profile docker (local) or -profile singularity (HPC), which routes .mzML data through the containerized MS-DIAL module for peak detection and alignment, then through MSFLO for annotation. Validate successful completion by checking the results/ folder for processed feature tables (converted from .msdial to .tsv format) and reviewing execution logs in logs/execution.log for resource usage and process-level output.

Related tools

• Nextflow (Workflow orchestration engine that manages parallelization, containerization, and resource allocation across execution platforms) — https://www.nextflow.io/
• MS-DIAL (Performs feature detection, peak alignment, and metabolite identification on LC-HRMS data within the containerized workflow)
• MSFLO (Conducts annotation and statistical processing of aligned metabolomics features following MS-DIAL output)
• Docker (Container runtime for local execution of MS-DIAL and MSFLO in reproducible, isolated environments) — https://docs.docker.com/engine/installation/
• Singularity (Container runtime for HPC execution, enabling MS-DIAL and MSFLO deployment on high-performance computing systems) — https://www.sylabs.io/guides/3.0/user-guide/
• ProteoWizard msConvert (Converts proprietary vendor mass spectrometry data formats to .mzML for input to the workflow) — https://proteowizard.sourceforge.io/download.html

Examples

nextflow run main.nf -profile docker > logs/execution.log

Evaluation signals

• Feature table (.tsv) is generated in results/ directory with metabolite identifiers, m/z values, retention time, and abundance columns for all samples.
• execution_report.html documents successful completion with no failed processes and resource usage within allocated limits.
• Processed .msdial files exist and are readable as tab-separated values in spreadsheet software.
• Log files contain no error or exception messages; process-level logs indicate successful container initialization, MS-DIAL peak detection completion, and MSFLO annotation completion.
• Output feature counts and alignment statistics match or exceed expected thresholds based on sample count and library size (e.g., ≥100 aligned features for typical metabolomics samples).

Limitations

• Raw data filenames must not contain special characters (underscores are safe); special characters may cause unexpected errors during file processing.
• MS-DIAL and MS-FLO parameters must be manually tuned in configuration files for optimal results; default parameters may not suit all metabolomics study designs or ionization modes.
• Singularity container resource allocation requires careful use of --max_cpus (not --cpus) in HPC configuration to avoid Slurm job rejection due to CPU oversubscription.
• The workflow has been tested on macOS 13.5.1 (Intel) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 (HiPerGator HPC); compatibility with other Linux distributions or Apple Silicon macOS is not documented.

Evidence

• [readme] A reproducible Nextflow workflow for LC-HRMS metabolomics data processing with MS-DIAL.: "A reproducible Nextflow workflow for LC-HRMS metabolomics data processing with MS-DIAL."
• [readme] Both Docker and Singularity (for high-performance computing) are supported: "Both Docker and Singularity (for high-performance computing) are supported"
• [other] Enabling processing .mzML LC-MS metabolomics data with containerized workflow MS-DIAL -> MSFLO: "Enabling processing .mzML LC-MS metabolomics data with containerized workflow MS-DIAL -> MSFLO"
• [readme] The workflow accepts .mzML and .abf files.: "The workflow accepts .mzML and .abf files."
• [readme] To avoid unexpected errors, do not use special characters in file names. Underscores are safe to use.: "To avoid unexpected errors, do not use special characters in file names. Underscores are safe to use."
• [readme] Use --max_cpus, not --cpus, in the configuration file to define the CPUs available to each process.: "Use --max_cpus, not --cpus, in the configuration file to define the CPUs available to each process."
• [readme] Example outputs are stored in the results folder. The file extensions for produced .msdial files have been changed to .tsv so the files can be opened in spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel.: "Example outputs are stored in the results folder. The file extensions for produced .msdial files have been changed to .tsv"
• [readme] execution_report.html summarizes workflow runtime and computational resource usage.: "execution_report.html summarizes workflow runtime and computational resource usage."