Metabolomics: A Powerful Tool in Systems Biology

The metabolome comprises the complete set of metabolites, the non-genetically encoded substrates, intermediates, and products of metabolic pathways, associated with a cell. Given the increasing demand to quantitatively identify the metabolome and understand how trafficking of metabolites through the metabolic network impact cellular behavior, metabolomics has emerged as an important complementary technology to the cell-wide measurements of mRNA, proteins, fluxes, and interactions (e.g., protein-DNA). Metabolomics is already a powerful tool in drug discovery and development and in metabolic engineering. While maintaining these strengths, the field promises to play a heightened role in systems biology research, which is transforming the practice of medicine and our ability to engineer living organisms. This book brings together the latest results in the field of metabolomics. It comprehensively presents the current state of the metabolomics field by underscoring experimental methods, analysis techniques, standardization practices, and advances in specific model systems. As a result, it significantly broadens our perspective on the principles and strategies underpinning this emerging field.