Pathway and biological interpretation

BioPAN

LIPID MAPS web tool for exploring changes in mammalian lipid pathways and predicting relative reaction or enzyme activity from quantitative lipidomics data.

Platform-independentLipidomicsWeb applicationFree web service

Overview

BioPAN compares quantitative mammalian lipidomics data within a curated reaction network. It highlights predicted pathway changes and associated enzymes, with optional LipidLynxX nomenclature conversion. These are abundance-based inferences, not direct flux measurements.

What can this tool do?

Pathway enrichmentNetwork visualization

Common uses

  • Compare lipid-class and molecular-species pathway patterns.
  • Prioritize possible enzyme-associated changes for follow-up.

Scientific fit

Primary function

Pathway and biological interpretation

Analysis types

Lipidomics

Data compatibility

Inputs

Feature or peak table, Compound list or annotations

Outputs

Pathway or reaction data, Statistical results, Human-readable report

Input formats

CSV or TSV

Output formats

JSON, JPEG/PNG/SVG pathway graphs, Text reaction scores and result tables

Scope and considerations

Designed for

  • Pathway exploration from quantitative mammalian lipidomics.

Not designed for

  • Direct measurement of enzyme activity or metabolic flux.
  • Oxidized-lipid analysis under the documented input restrictions.

Important requirements

  • CSV lipid concentrations with at least two conditions and two samples per condition.

Considerations

  • For sum-composition annotations, input order can affect which reaction combinations are retained.
  • Review nomenclature conversion and annotation resolution before interpreting the graph.

Access and documentation

Hosted LIPID MAPS tool requiring no installation. Documentation states that analysis links remain available for 30 days; export results needed for long-term records.

Evidence and review

Official service documentation and dedicated tool citation reviewed on 2026-09-11. Included for downstream MS lipidomics interpretation. No user dataset was uploaded or enrichment analysis run.

Core publications

Resource papers, direct updates and tool-specific methods. Selection policy.

  1. Gaud C, Sousa BC, Nguyen A, et al. BioPAN: a web-based tool to explore mammalian lipidome metabolic pathways on LIPID MAPS. F1000Research 10, 4 (2021).

Related tools

Entry history

Changes to this catalogue entry, not the tool's software release history. Acceptance and editorial review are separate.

  1. 2026-09-11 · Entry update

    Add lipid naming tools and BioPAN integration

    View change · Entry at this revision
  2. 2026-09-11 · First committed entry

    Add lipid ontology and pathway interpretation tools

    View change · Entry at this revision

Full GitHub history