title: Unveiling cellular biochemical reactions via metabolomics-driven approaches.
abstract: Despite the widespread availability of genome sequences and the systematic assignment of individual open reading frames, many of the activities of metabolic enzymes are still veiled. It is difficult to assign biochemical functions to enzymes and uncover the in vivo regulation of their enzymatic activities, but this is crucial to understand cellular functions. The development of metabolomics and metabolite profiling, which can globally analyze intracellular and extracellular metabolites, has provided some valuable tools for systems biology. This report reviews the recent metabolomics approaches to elucidate unidentified metabolic systems while focusing on their enzymatic activities, including their biochemical and biological functions, and their regulation in response to environmental perturbations in microorganisms.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, Tsuruoka, Yamagata 997-0017, Japan.
authors.forename: Natsumi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Yoshiaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohashi
authors.forename: Tomoyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Soga
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tomita
mesh_terms: D004734:Energy Metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D055442:Metabolome; D055432:Metabolomics / Q000379:methods*; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D049490:Systems Biology / Q000379:methods*