The Hitchhiker's Guide to Untargeted Lipidomics Analysis: Practical Guidelines

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Lipidomics is a rapidly growing field within the omics sciences, focusing on the identification and quantification of lipids.
• The increasing size of lipidome datasets necessitates specialized and efficient data analysis methods.
• Untargeted lipidomics, particularly using LC-MS, generates complex data requiring robust analytical workflows.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide practical guidelines for analyzing and interpreting untargeted lipidomics data obtained via LC-MS.
• To present a state-of-the-art workflow for untargeted lipidomics, covering study design to lipid feature annotation.
• To outline potential applications of untargeted lipidomics in biological research.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) for untargeted lipid detection and quantification.
• Implementing a comprehensive data analysis workflow from raw data to lipid annotation.
• Employing the xcms software package within an R notebook for detailed data processing.

Main Results:

• A practical, step-by-step workflow for untargeted lipidomics data analysis is presented.
• An R notebook is provided, facilitating the analysis of LC-MS-based lipidomics data.
• The workflow focuses on efficient interpretation of large lipidome datasets.

Conclusions:

• The developed workflow and R notebook offer valuable tools for researchers in lipidomics.
• Efficient data analysis is crucial for advancing biological insights from untargeted lipidomics studies.
• This approach supports the broader application of lipidomics in biological and biomedical research.