The Data Distributions node displays the areas and ratios calculated by the Precursor Ions Quantifier node or the Reporter Ions Quantifier node as data distribution maps that show the distribution of values across the available files, samples, and sample groups, or across ratios and ratio groups. The ratio changes are currently color-coded. The area values are also color-coded, with the color ranging from yellow to red with increasing area. The data distribution maps help you to visually validate quantification results.

The node also color-codes the up- or down-regulation for individual ratios. For reporter ion quantification, it also color-codes the Areas columns according to the intensity of the individual reporter ions.

The Data Distributions node adds the Found in Files, Found in Samples, and Found in Sample Groups columns to the Protein Groups, Proteins, and Peptide Groups pages in the result file.

The following table describes the parameters for the Data Distributions node.

Data Distributions node parameters

Parameter

Definition

Peptides to Use

Specifies the peptides to use to calculate identification distributions for the distribution maps.

  • All PSMs: Uses all peptides that are shared by the protein regardless of whether they are unique to that protein or to the protein group to which it belongs.
  • (Default) Only Unique Peptides Based on Protein Groups: Uses peptides that are shared among the proteins of a single protein group but are still considered unique.
  • Only Unique Peptides Based on Proteins: Uses only peptides that are unique. “Unique” means that the peptides comprising this amino acid sequence cannot be found in any other protein sequence within the queried protein database.