Metabolites are the intermediate and end products of the metabolism of cells, organs or organisms. They are generally categorized as primary metabolites, required for the general growth, development and reproduction of the organism, and specialized metabolites, providing the organism with distinctive fitness benefits in a specific ecosystem. All the metabolites in an organism are known as the metabolome. Metabolomics, then, is the large-scale study of the structure, function and composition of the metabolome.
Expertise & Technology
Discovery metabolomic profiling
Discovery (untargeted) metabolomics covers a comprehensive analysis of all (measurable) analytes in a sample. This includes both known and unknown metabolites. This approach is generally attempted in order to pinpoint metabolic differences that are the result of a specific treatment or that distinguish a wild-type from a mutant (comparative metabolic profiling).
Targeted metabolomic profiling
Targeted metabolomics focuses on a subset of structurally characterized or annotated metabolites. Knowledge of the identity of these metabolites allows absolute quantification of the targets.
Compound purification
In the process of compound purification, a metabolite of interest is separated from the other metabolites in the sample. The pure compound can then be send for de novo structure elucidation by NMR, or it can be applied to a cell culture or organism to investigate the effect of the compound.
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