What is metabolomics?

Metabolomics is the large-scale study of small molecules, commonly known as metabolites, within cells, biofluids, tissues or organisms. Collectively, these small molecules and their interactions within a biological system are known as the metabolome.

Just as genomics is the study of DNA and genetic information within a cell, and transcriptomics is the study of RNA and differences in mRNA expression; metabolomics is the study of substrates and products of metabolism, which are influenced by both genetic and environmental factors (Figure 1).

Metabolomics is a powerful approach because metabolites and their concentrations, unlike other “omics” measures, directly reflect the underlying biochemical activity and state of cells / tissues. Thus metabolomics best represents the molecular phenotype.