Normalyzer: a tool for rapid evaluation of normalization methods for omics data sets

J Proteome Res. 2014 Jun 6;13(6):3114-20. doi: 10.1021/pr401264n. Epub 2014 May 2.

Abstract

High-throughput omics data often contain systematic biases introduced during various steps of sample processing and data generation. As the source of these biases is usually unknown, it is difficult to select an optimal normalization method for a given data set. To facilitate this process, we introduce the open-source tool "Normalyzer". It normalizes the data with 12 different normalization methods and generates a report with several quantitative and qualitative plots for comparative evaluation of different methods. The usefulness of Normalyzer is demonstrated with three different case studies from quantitative proteomics and transcriptomics. The results from these case studies show that the choice of normalization method strongly influences the outcome of downstream quantitative comparisons. Normalyzer is an R package and can be used locally or through the online implementation at http://quantitativeproteomics.org/normalyzer .

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Data Interpretation, Statistical
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Humans
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
  • Proteome / genetics
  • Proteome / metabolism
  • Proteomics
  • Software*
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Substances

  • Proteome

Grants and funding

National Institutes of Health, United States