Mol Omics. 2021 Apr 01;17(2):210-229. doi: 10.1039/d0mo00176g. Epub 2021 Feb 18.

Metabolomics: small molecules that matter more.

Molecular omics

Balasubramanian Chellammal Muthubharathi, Thirumugam Gowripriya, Krishnaswamy Balamurugan

PMID: 33598670 DOI: 10.1039/d0mo00176g

Abstract

Metabolomics, an analytical study with high-throughput profiling, helps to understand interactions within a biological system. Small molecules, called metabolites or metabolomes with the size of <1500 Da, depict the status of a biological system in a different manner. Currently, we are in need to globally analyze the metabolome and the pathways involved in healthy, as well as diseased conditions, for possible therapeutic applications. Metabolome analysis has revealed high-abundance molecules during different conditions such as diet, environmental stress, microbiota, and disease and treatment states. As a result, it is hard to understand the complete and stable network of metabolites of a biological system. This review helps readers know the available techniques to study metabolomics in addition to other major omics such as genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics. This review also discusses the metabolomics in various pathological conditions and the importance of metabolomics in therapeutic applications.

MeSH terms

• Computational Biology
• Diet / adverse effects
• Genomics / trends
• Humans
• Metabolome / genetics*
• Metabolomics / trends*
• Microbiota / genetics*
• Proteomics / trends
• Stress, Physiological / genetics
• Systems Biology / trends*

Publication Types

• Journal Article
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
• Review