天明
代谢组学是继基因组学和蛋白质组学之后新近发展起来的一门学科,是系统生物学的重要组成部分。之后得到迅速发展并渗透到多项领域,比如疾病诊断、医药研制开发、营养食品科学、毒理学、环境学,植物学等与人类健康护理密切相关的领域。基因组学和蛋白质组学分别从基因和蛋白质层面探寻生命的活动,而实际上细胞内许多生命活动是发生在代谢物层面的,如细胞信号释放(cell signaling),能量传递,细胞间通信等都是受代谢物调控的。代谢组学正是研究代谢组(metabolome)——在某一时刻细胞内所有代谢物的集合——的一门学科。基因与蛋白质的表达紧密相连,而代谢物则更多地反映了细胞所处的环境,这又与细胞的营养状态,药物和环境污染物的作用,以及其它外界因素的影响密切相关。因此有人认为,“基因组学和蛋白质组学告诉你什么可能会发生,而代谢组学则告诉你什么确实发生了。”(Bill Lasley, UC Davis)代谢组学的概念来源于代谢组,代谢组是指某一生物或细胞在一特定生理时期内所有的低分子量代谢产物,代谢组学则是对某一生物或细胞在一特定生理时期内所有低分子量代谢产物同时进行定性和定量分析的一门新学科 (Goodacre,2004)。它是以组群指标分析为基础,以高通量检测和数据处理为手段,以信息建模与系统整合为目标的系统生物学的一个分支。The concept that indivials might have a metabolic profile that could be reflected in the makeup of their biological fluids was introced by Roger Williams in the late 1940s, who used paper chromatography to suggest characteristic metabolic patterns in urine and saliva were associated with diseases such asschizophrenia. However, it was only through technological advancements in the 1960s and 1970s that it became feasible to quantitatively (as opposed to qualitatively) measure metabolic profiles. The term metabolic profile was introced by Horning, et al. in 1971 after they demonstrated that gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) could be used to measure compounds present in human urine and tissue extracts. The Horning group, along with that of Linus Pauling and Arthur B. Robinson led the development of GC-MS methods to monitor the metabolites present in urine through the 1970s.Gates, Sweeley; Sweeley, CC (1978). Quantitative metabolic profiling based on gas chromatography. Clin Chem 24 (10): 1663–73. PMID 359193.Preti, George. Metabolomics comes of age? The Scientist, 19[11]:8, June 6, 2005.Jump up^ Novotny et al.; Soini, Helena A.; Mechref, Yehia (2008). Biochemical indiviality reflected in chromatographic, electrophoretic and mass-spectrometric profiles. J Chromatog B 866: 26–47. doi:10.1016/j.jchromb.2007.10.007.Jump up^ Griffiths W.J., Wang Y. (2009). Mass spectrometry: From proteomics to metabolomics and lipidomics. Chem Soc Rev 38 (7): 1882–96. doi:10.1039/b618553n.PMID 19551169.