Since the metabolome is closely tied to an organism's genotype, its physiology and its environment (what the organism eats or breathes), metabolomics offers a unique opportunity to look at genotype-phenotype as well as genotype-environment relationships.
The metabolome (like the genome or proteome) can be described as the complete complement of small molecule chemicals (metabolites) found in or produced by an organism.
Metabolomics, or metabolic profiling, is an emerging branch of genetic research that uses metabolites as very sensitive reporters to:
- Detect tiny changes or mutations that happen to genes or proteins
- Monitor and/or measure the larger-scale physiological changes that occur in response to subtle changes in the environment
- Assist in the improved monitoring of adverse drug reactions (so-called drug allergies)
Indeed, Metabolomics is increasingly being used in a variety of health applications including pharmacology, pre-clinical drug trials, toxicology, transplant monitoring, newborn screening and clinical chemistry. Physicians and scientists around the world are now beginning to realize that metabolic profiling could have a significant impact on the diagnosis, prediction, prevention and monitoring of many genetic, infectious and environmental diseases. However, a key limitation to metabolomics is the fact that the human metabolome is not at all well characterized.
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