代谢组学研究——功能基因组学研究的重要组成部分

Metabolomics—An Important Part of Functional Genomics

代谢组学 (metabolomics)是上世纪 90年代中期发展起来的一门对某一生物或细胞所有低分子量代谢产物进行定性和定量分析的一门新学科。本文对代谢组和代谢组学的含义、代谢组学与其它组学的区别和关系、代谢组学研究的历史沿革、代谢组学在功能基因组学研究中的作用、代谢组学的研究现状与应用概况、代谢组学研究的技术等方面内容进行了介绍 ,并对当前代谢组学研究中存在的问题以及今后的发展趋势试作了探讨 ,提出了我国科学工作者利用代谢组学研究技术进行功能基因组学研究的必要性和可能性。

Metabolomics is a new science and technology developed in mid 1990. It refers to a holistic analytical approach to all the low molecular weight metabolites in an organism or cells. In this paper, the definition and implication of metabolome and metabolomics are provided. The history and development of metabolite profiling into todays metabolomics, the relationships among all “Omics', and the roles that metabolomics plays in functional genomics are summarized. The current status and applications of metabolomics research are surveyed. The technologies used in metabolomics are reviewed. The problems and future perspectives of metabolomics research are discussed. Finally, the possibility and necessity of conducting metabolomics research in China are discussed in relation to functional genomics.