Metabolome

Metabolome refers to the complete set of small-molecule chemicals found within a biological sample. The metabolome represents the downstream effect of an organism's genome and its interaction with the environment. Metabolomics is the systematic study of the unique chemical fingerprints that specific cellular processes leave behind.

Overview

The metabolome forms a large network of metabolic reactions, where outputs from one enzymatic chemical reaction are inputs to other chemical reactions. Metabolites are the intermediates and products of metabolism. The term metabolome was first coined by Oliver et al., in 1998.

Metabolomics

Metabolomics is the "systematic study of the unique chemical fingerprints that specific cellular processes leave behind", the study of their small-molecule metabolite profiles. The metabolome represents the collection of all metabolites in a biological organism, which are the end products of its gene expression. Thus, while mRNA gene expression data and proteomic analyses do not tell the whole story of what might be happening in a cell, metabolic profiling can give an instantaneous snapshot of the physiology of that cell.

Metabolome Types

There are two main types of metabolomes; the primary metabolome and the secondary metabolome. The primary metabolome is involved with normal growth, development, and reproduction. The secondary metabolome is involved with environmental interaction such as defense mechanism.

Metabolome Analysis

Metabolome analysis is the study of the metabolome under a given set of conditions. It is a powerful tool because metabolites and their concentrations directly reflect the underlying biochemical activity and state of cells / tissues. Thus, the metabolome can give an instantaneous snapshot of the physiology of that cell. One of the challenges of systems biology and functional genomics is metabolome analysis.

See Also

• Metabolomics
• Metabolic network
• Metabolic pathway
• Metabolism

References

Metabolome Resources
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