Product ion filter & visualizer

Description

This module and plot is based upon the Neutral Loss visualizer module with modifications to enable filtering. Its formal title within MZmine is Product Ion Filter however, it will be called Diagnostic Fragmentation Filter in the drop down menu of the GUI. It shows the product ion m/z and precursor ion m/z of all MS2... MSn in the selected raw data file. Due to common structural features, compounds within the same class undergo similar MS/MS fragmentation and as a result of many identical product ions and/or neutral losses. Diagnostic fragmentation filter (product ion filter) is a post-acquisition approach to screen LC-MS/MS datasets for entire classes of both known and unknown natural products. This tool searches all MS/MS spectra for product ions and/or neutral losses that has defined as being diagnostic for the entire class of compounds. In other words it screens LC-MS/MS datasets for MS/MS spectra containing production ions and/or neutral losses that are specific to that class of compounds.

For a detailed view on the use and the output of this module see:
Walsh, Jacob P., et al. "Diagnostic Fragmentation Filtering for the Discovery of New Chaetoglobosins and Cytochalasins." Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry (2018).
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/rcm.8306

The user defines the diagnostic product ions and/or the diagnostic neutral loss values (Da) to use in the filtering. The user can also define the minimum diagnostic ion intensity (% base peak) to use in the filtering. If a recurrent neutral loss occurs, a line pattern in the plot can be observed. If compounds carrying those diagnostic product ions and/or the neutral loss values are detected the resulting plot will show their product ion m/z and precusor ion m/z. Additionally, an output file may be specified that will output the results of the filtering. Two csv files will be output: {Peaklist out file}.csv contains the scan numbers, precursor m/z, and retention times of the scans. This output file may be used in other MZmine modules like "Raw data methods > Peak detection > Targeted peak detection" to generate the extracted ion chromatagrams of ions the have met the defined filtering critera. The second output file, {Peaklist output file}_data.csv contains the pproduct ion m/z, precursor m/z, and retention times to allow plots of the filtering to be generated outside of MZmine.

Parameters

X axis
X axis type. The user can choose from "Retention time" or "Precursor mass"
Retention time
Retention time (X axis) range.
Precursor m/z
Range of precursor m/z values.
m/z tolerance
Maximum allowed difference between two m/z values considered the same
Diagnostic product ions (m/z)
Input the class specific product ion(s) m/z. Separate multiple product ions with a comma
Diagnostic neutral loss values (Da)
Input the class specific neutral loss(es). Separate multiple neutral loss values with a comma.
Minimum diagnostic ion intensity (% base peak)
Percent of scan base peak of which ms/ms product ions must be above to be included in the analysis
Peaklist output file
Selet a filename and path to output the two resulting output files to

Functionality

This filter and resulting plot will produce a distinct increasing plot pattern. The plot displays the spectra that met the defined critera defined by the filter. Each spectra carrying the desired product ions and/or neutral loss values are shown. The x-axis is the m/z of the precursor ions that met the defined filtering criteria. The y-axis shows the m/z of the product ions within the MS/MS spectra. In the following diagram the criteria included product ions with m/z values of 146.0545 and 120.0806.