The Chromatogram Traces view displays the following:
- The chromatographic profiles of individual features or peaks that the application uses in calculating label-free and precursor ion quantification results
- The exact peak and feature traces that are used to derive quantification values
- The feature traces that are summed up from their corresponding peaks
In addition, you can separately display the single peaks that are subsumed in feature traces to provide a more detailed view. Closely overlapping chromatograms (or traces) in the view indicate whether proteoforms eluted at the same time from the column and therefore are the same proteoform. They confirm the validity of the quantification results and the origin of the consensus features from the same proteoform. Conversely, peaks appearing far apart in the view indicate potential false positives.
The Chromatogram Traces view is available only when you perform label-free quantification or precursor ion quantification, but what it displays in the view depends on the result file page that is open.
Abundance is the area under the curve for each trace. In the following figure, the Consensus Features page of the table associated with the selected proteoform group shows the abundances displayed in the Chromatogram Traces view.