Metabolome Analyses is intended as a follow-up to Metabolic Profiling: Its Role in Biomarker Discovery and Gene Function Analysis (Kluwer, 2003). That text offered guidelines to currently available technology, bioinformatics and databases. Evidence was presented showing metabolic profiling as a valuable addition to genomics and proteomics strategies devoted to drug discovery and development. This book focuses on how metabolic profiling is being more comprehensively integrated with the other "omics" technologies. It provides more practical applications of such "panomics" or "Systems Biology" approaches. The expanding use of mass spectrometry as a measurement technology in metabolic profiling is addressed through demonstrated applications. The integration of metabolic profiling and proteomics is probably most developed for plant-based studies, which was not addressed in Volume 1. Other areas related to metabolic profiling continue to show significant development. These include database strategies and an increased acceptance by the pharmaceutical industry of metabolic profiling. Also covered is the use of in silico metabolic networks. Again the focus is primarily on the pharmaceutical industry but the importance of metabolic profiling to studies on human nutrition (a burgeoning area) is discussed.

"Metabolome analysis is now recognized as a crucial component of functional genomic and systems biology investigations. Innovative approaches to the study of metabolic regulation in microbial, plant and animal systems are increasingly facilitating the emergence of systems approaches in biology. This book highlights analytical and bioinformatics strategies now available for investigating metabolic networks in microbial, plant and animal systems.

Towards Integrative Functional Genomics Using Yeast as a Reference Model.- Metabolomics for the Assessment of Functional Diversity and Quality Traits in Plants.- Metabolomics: A New Approach Towards Identifying Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets in CNS Disorders.- Comparative Metabolome Profiling Using Two Dimensional Thin Layer Chromatography (2DTLC).- Capillary Electrophoresis and Its Application in Metabolome Analysis.- Metabolite Profiling with GC-MS and LC-MS.- The Application of Electrochemistry to Metabolic Profiling.- Differential Metabolic Profiling for Biomarker Discovery.- NMR-Based Metabonomics in Toxicology Research.- Methodological Issues and Experimental Design Considerations in Metabolic Profile-Based Classifications.- Modelling of Fungal Metabolism.- Detailed Kinetic Models Using Metabolomics Data Sets.- Metabolic Networks.- Metabolic Networks from a Systems Perspective.- Parallel Metabolite and Transcript Profiling.- Fluxome Profiling in Microbes.- Targeted Drug Design and Metabolic Pathway Flux.- Metabonomics in the Pharmaceutical Industry.- How Lipidomic Approaches Will Benefit the Pharmaceutical Industry.- Metabolites and Fungal Virulence.