Introduction to Metabolomics

Metabolomics is known as the study of all chemical processes concerning metabolites, providing characteristic chemical fingerprints that specific cellular processes yield, by means of the study of their small-molecule metabolite profiles.

Most evolutionary researches are based on the construction of phylogenetic trees of species using sequences of genomes, genes, mRNA, and proteins. The correlation of gene and protein expression is low and that between gene expression and metabolites even lower. 


Metabolites, especially secondary metabolites, are extremely important for most organisms to defend themselves from stressful environments. While primary metabolites involved in central metabolism can be used to determine nutritional and growth status, secondary metabolite profiles may differentiate the species and their complex response to environmental factors and other organisms.