The utility of metabolomics in natural product and biomarker characterization

Abstract

Background Metabolomics is a well-established rapidly developing research field involving quantitative and qualitative metabolite assessment within biological systems. Recent improvements in metabolomics technologies reveal the unequivocal value of metabolomics tools in natural products discovery, gene-function analysis, systems biology and diagnostic platforms. Scope of review We review of some of the prominent metabolomics methodologies employed in data acquisition and analysis of natural products and disease-related biomarkers. Major conclusions This review demonstrates that metabolomics represents a highly adaptable technology with diverse applications ranging from environmental toxicology to disease diagnosis. Metabolomic analysis is shown to provide a unique snapshot of the functional genetic status of an organism by examining its biochemical profile, with relevance toward resolving phylogenetic associations involving horizontal gene transfer and distinguishing subgroups of genera possessing high genetic homology, as well as an increasing role in both elucidating biosynthetic transformations of natural products and detecting preclinical biomarkers of numerous disease states. General significance This review expands the interest in multiplatform combinatorial metabolomic analysis. The applications reviewed range from phylogenetic assignment, biosynthetic transformations of natural products, and the detection of preclinical biomarkers.

Chemoselective reactions and their applications in metabolite isolation and analysis.

“…Furthermore, introduction of the labelled carbon was confirmed by the coupling of the carbon observed in 13 C NMR spectrum at 51.4 ppm.…”

“…The somewhat low yield can be attributed poor separation of *QDE in the column. The 1 H, 13 C and HRMS spectra of *QDE are shown in Figure 2.8. …”

“…These derivatization techniques have been reported for HPLC/UV quantitation of biotin [70], organic acids [71,-73], short-chain [74,75] straight chain/long-chain fatty acids [76,77] and for quantification of 13 C-pyruvate and 13 C-lactate in dog blood by RP-HPLC/ESIMS [78].…”

“…This migration is fast at room temperature with respect to NMR time scale. These molecules have been previously synthesized and characterized using 1 H, 13 C and 11 B NMR [196,198,199].…”

“…Another potential application of targeted metabolomics, as described by Furlan et al, utilizes metabolomic analyses to identify and synthesize libraries of diverse semisynthetic molecules for development of biologically active compounds [12]. Metabolomic analyses of natural products have been utilized in phylogenetic assignment, biosynthetic transformation of natural products and detection of preclinical biomarkers [13].…”