A. Vertes,B. Shrestha and P. Nemes

Published in: Methodologies for Metabolomics: Experimental Strategies and Techniques, 2013, pp. 140-158
Editor: Norbert W. Lutz, Jonathan V. Sweedler, and Ron A. Wevers
Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN:  9780521765909

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SUMMARY

The systematic study of metabolites and their related pathways in various organisms is experiencing a renaissance. In the first half of the twentieth century, studying select metabolic processes played a central role in biochemistry and brought about major discoveries, such as the ornithinc and the citric acid cycle. From the middle of the century, increasingly powerful tools used in metabolism research included efficient separation methods (gas chromatography [GC] and high performance liquid chromatography) combined with spectrometers aimed at small molecules (nuclear magnetic resonance [NMR] and mass spectrometry [MS]). In the 1970s and early 1980s, genetics took center stage, aided by the introduction of DNA
sequencing, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and recombinant DNA technologies. Here. we discuss direct metabolomics from tissues and cells for small molecule and lipids.