MASH Explorer: A Universal Software Environment for Top-Down Proteomics.

Top-down mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics enables a comprehensive analysis of proteoforms with molecular specificity to achieve a proteome-wide understanding of protein functions. However, the lack of a universal software for top-down proteomics is becoming increasingly recognized as a major barrier especially for newcomers. Here we develop MASH Explorer, a universal, comprehensive, and user-friendly software environment for top-down proteomics. MASH Explorer integrates multiple spectral deconvolution and database searching algorithms into a single, universal platform which can process top-down proteomics data from various vendor formats, for the first time. It addresses the urgent need in the rapidly growing top-down proteomics community and is freely available to all users worldwide. With the critical need and tremendous support from the community, we envision this MASH Explorer software package will play an integral role in advancing top-down proteomics to realize its full potential for biomedical research.