Metabolomics: The Future of Systems Biology

Abstract

The collection of global metabolic data and their interpretation (both spectral and biochemical) using modern spectroscopic techniques and appropriate statistical approaches, are known as `metabolomics’. This review covers research on metabolomics, ranging from the development of specialized chemical analytical techniques to the construction of databases and methods for metabolic simulation. Furthermore we have also outlined the recent developments in elucidating the system-level functions of the bioconstituents of living organisms. Metabolomics has the potential to serve an important role in diagnosis and management of human conditions. As such the purpose of this systematic review is to summarize existing literature on metabolomics and its various techniques in terms of diagnostic accuracies and distinguishing metabolites. This article has also highlighted the novelty of the field of metabolomics with various detection methods. Here metabolomic methodologies are discussed briefly followed by a more detailed review of the use of metabolomics in integrated applications where metabolomics information has been combined with other “omic” data sets (proteomics, transcriptomics) to enable greater understanding of a biological system.