title: The progress and challenges in metabolic research in China.
abstract: Metabolism refers to a chain of chemical reactions converting food/fuel into energy to conduct cellular processes, including the synthesis of the building blocks of the body, such as proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and carbohydrates, and the elimination of nitrogenous wastes. Metabolic chain reactions are catalyzed by various enzymes that are orchestrated in specific pathways. Metabolic pathways are important for organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. The coordinated regulation of metabolic pathways is important for maintaining metabolic homeostasis. The key steps and crucial enzymes in these pathways have been well investigated. However, the crucial regulatory factors and feedback (or feedforward) mechanisms of nutrients and intermediate metabolites of these biochemical processes remain to be fully elucidated. In addition, the roles of these enzymes and regulatory factors in controlling metabolism under physiological and pathological conditions are largely unknown. In particular, metabolic dysregulation is closely linked to the development of many diseases, including obesity, fatty liver, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, metabolism, an old area of biochemistry, has attracted much attention in the last decade. With substantially increased government funding, the involvement of talented researchers, an improved infrastructure and scientific environment over the last ten years, the basic research in the field of metabolism in China has dramatically advanced. Here, we have summarized the major discoveries of scientists in China in the last decade in the area of metabolism. Due to the vast amount of information, we focused this review on specific aspects of metabolism, particularly metabolic regulation and lipid metabolism in vertebrates. © 2016 IUBMB Life, 68(11):847-853, 2016.
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.|Key Laboratory for Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Guangang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Linkang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioinformatics & Biotechnology, International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad Arshad
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. li-peng@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000592:standards*; D002681:China; D006801:Humans; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000628:therapy; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D058996:Quality Improvement
keywords: lipid metabolism; metabolic diseases; metabolic regulation; metabolism