Concepts in Plant Metabolomics

Like genomics, which defines genes in a genome irrespective of functionality, metabolomics profiles all metabolites in a biological sample irrespective of the chemical and physical properties of these molecules. Metabolomics can potentially define cellular processes by providing a measure of the ultimate phenotype of an organism, characterized by the collage of small molecules whose levels of accumulation is altered in response to genetic and environmentally induced changes in gene expression.Analogous to genomics, which defines all genes in a genome irrespective of their functionality, metabolomics seeks to profile "all" metabolites in a biological sample irrespective of the chemical and physical properties of these molecules.§Metabolomics has the potential of defining cellular processes as it provides a measure of the ultimate phenotype of an organism, as defined by the collage of small molecules, whose levels of accumulation is altered in response to genetic and environmentally induced changes in gene expression.§This book presents a guide for new practitioners of metabolomics, providing insights as to the current use and applications of metabolomics.