MetaFetcheR: An R Package for Complete Mapping of Small-Compound Data

Small-compound databases contain a large amount of information for metabolites and metabolic pathways. However, the plethora of such databases and the redundancy of their information lead to major issues with analysis and standardization. A lack of preventive establishment of means of data access at the infant stages of a project might lead to mislabelled compounds, reduced statistical power, and large delays in delivery of results. We developed MetaFetcheR, an open-source R package that links metabolite data from several small-compound databases, resolves inconsistencies, and covers a variety of use-cases of data fetching. We showed that the performance of MetaFetcheR was superior to existing approaches and databases by benchmarking the performance of the algorithm in three independent case studies based on two published datasets.

Automated summary

Small-compound databases provide abundant information on metabolites and pathways, but face issues with analysis and standardization due to redundancy. MetaFetcheR, an open-source R package, outperforms existing methods and databases by linking metabolite data, resolving inconsistencies, and covering various data fetching use-cases.