The Perseus computational platform for comprehensive analysis of (prote)omics data

Perseus is a comprehensive, user-friendly software platform for the biological analysis of quantitative proteomics data. It is intended to help biologists with little bioinformatics training to interpret protein expression, post-translational modification and interaction data. Also in this issue, see the Perspective by Röst et al. A main bottleneck in proteomics is the downstream biological analysis of highly multivariate quantitative protein abundance data generated using mass-spectrometry-based analysis. We developed the Perseus software platform ( http://www.perseus-framework.org ) to support biological and biomedical researchers in interpreting protein quantification, interaction and post-translational modification data. Perseus contains a comprehensive portfolio of statistical tools for high-dimensional omics data analysis covering normalization, pattern recognition, time-series analysis, cross-omics comparisons and multiple-hypothesis testing. A machine learning module supports the classification and validation of patient groups for diagnosis and prognosis, and it also detects predictive protein signatures. Central to Perseus is a user-friendly, interactive workflow environment that provides complete documentation of computational methods used in a publication. All activities in Perseus are realized as plugins, and users can extend the software by programming their own, which can be shared through a plugin store. We anticipate that Perseus's arsenal of algorithms and its intuitive usability will empower interdisciplinary analysis of complex large data sets.