From experimental design to accurate results: integrating metabolic studies into your research

Metabolomics is an omics area that studies the interaction between small molecules to biological systems. Known as the metabolome, these interactions are closely linked with genetic variation and transcriptional changes within an organism. This connection provides a window into metabolic processes and related phenotypes. As a product of metabolism, metabolites include compounds such as amino acids, organic acids, lipids, sugars, nucleotides, and other intermediary metabolites. There are four main steps in metabolomics studies: sample collection, sample preparation, metabolite measurement and data analysis. To achieve appropriate results, all are equally important. For instance, there is not one extraction technique that yields all the metabolites, and the level of sensitive ones can be rapidly changed due to unappropriated sample collection. Analytical methods used in metabolomics include mass-spectrometry (MS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and spectroscopy. Metabolic studies can be conducted in two ways: one uses a targeted approach where the desired metabolites are selected prior to analysis based on the biological question and specific pathways. The other is an untargeted approach, that aims to determine as many metabolites as possible and involves both metabolites quantification and their identification. The large-scale data enables the clustering of samples based on the metabolic fingerprints to identify variation and recognize related biomarkers. Sample preparation and the extraction procedures are chosen in accordance with the selected approach. With easy-to-understand examples, this talk will outline the key considerations in metabolic studies, as well as the steps in metabolomics analysis, from sample preparation to metabolite identification.