Question - Network Analysis

MetaboAnalyst
1

Just wondering why the only option available to choose (ie that can be clicked) in the Network Analysis Options during the Set Parameters Stage is the “Debiased Sparse Partial Correlation (DSPC) Network”. The other options like “Metabolite Disease Interaction Network” or “Metabolite Metabolite Interaction Network” are on the page but cannot be chosen ie they can’t be clicked.

Any insights would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,
JM

2

Good question! There are two types of networks in MetaboAnalyst at the moment

  • Input: a compound list (i.e. significant metabolites) => knowledge-based network: all networks (except DSPC) you mentioned. They are already in our database and will be used to create the network by mapping your data to the underlying database;
  • Input: a compound concentration table => data-driven network: i.e. DSPC, which is computed based on the data table you uploaded. After you create network, you can also perform enrichment analysis on this network in the network visualization page

The issue is that directly mapping all compounds from the data table to the knowledge network will create a huge network (not viewable nor interpretable). You need to select a few compounds of interest first. At the moment, you can first upload the same table to Statistical Analysis module to get a list of significant compounds, then copy-and-paste the list to the Network Analysis module to access all the knowledge-based networks.