Standardization and open data practices in metaproteomics: community reporting checklist (microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com)

• First community-developed metaproteomics reporting checklist published by the Metaproteomics Initiative
• Checklist covers experimental, bioinformatics, and data deposition stages with emphasis on FAIR principles
• Recommends reuse of HUPO-PSI and MIxS standards, with tailored fields for taxonomic resolution and database construction

"A consortium of 29 authors from the Metaproteomics Initiative published a reporting checklist in Microbiome to address the lack of standardization in metaproteomics. The checklist covers experimental design, sample handling, mass spectrometry acquisition, database construction, protein inference, and data deposition. The work aims to align metaproteomics with FAIR principles by reusing existing standards from proteomics and microbiome research where possible, and developing tailored solutions for unique challenges such as taxonomic resolution and database dependency. Structured metadata templates like SDRF-Proteomics are being adapted, and the checklist is available at metaproteomics.org."