Microbial Metabolomics

Abstract

Microbial metabolomics constitutes an integrated component of systems biology. By studying the complete set of metabolites within a microorganism and monitoring the global outcome of interactions between its development processes and the environment, metabolomics can potentially provide a more accurate snap shot of the actual physiological state of the cell. Recent advancement of technologies and post-genomic developments enable the study and analysis of metabolome. This unique contribution resulted in many scientific disciplines incorporating metabolomics as one of their “omics” platforms. This review focuses on metabolomics in microorganisms and utilizes selected topics to illustrate its impact on the understanding of systems microbiology.

Multivariate Analysis in Metabolomics

“…This occurs because a simple change in the expression level of a gene or protein does not necessarily correlate directly with a variation in the activity level of a protein, but an alteration in a metabolite only occurs through such a change [7]. Consequently, metabolomics has been used to identify disease biomarkers [8, 9], to aid in the drug discovery process [10, 11], and to study plants [12], bacteria [13, 14], nutrition [15], and the environment [16], among numerous other applications [17]. …”

Multivariate Analysis in Metabolomics

“…This occurs because a simple change in the expression level of a gene or protein does not necessarily correlate directly with a variation in the activity level of a protein, but an alteration in a metabolite only occurs through such a change [7]. Consequently, metabolomics has been used to identify disease biomarkers [8,9], to aid in the drug discovery process [10,11], and to study plants [12], bacteria [13,14], nutrition [15], and the environment [16], among numerous other applications [17].…”

Sequencing and beyond: integrating molecular 'omics' for microbial community profiling

“…While metabolomics shares several challenges with other meta'omic methods, including a broad catalog of potential features occurring with high dynamic range, it is further complicated by the non-uniformity of the features (molecules) that are profiled 64 . For example, while all transcripts belong to the same class of biomolecules (RNAs), metabolites range from small, hydrophilic carbohydrates (such as glucose) to large, hydrophobic lipids (such as triacylglycerides), to complex natural compounds (such as antibiotics).…”