Single-Cell Metabolomics: Analytical and Biological Perspectives

摘要

In recent years, there has been a surge in the development and application of single-cell genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. The metabolome is defined as the full complement of small-molecule metabolites found in a specific cell, organ, or organism. The most interesting potential application of single-cell metabolomics may be in the area of cancer-for example, identification of circulating cancer cells that lead to metastasis. Other fields where single-cell metabolomics is expected to have an impact are systems biology, stem cell research, aging, and the development of drug resistance; more generally, it could be used to discover cells' chemical strategies for coping with chemical or environmental stress. Relative to other single-cell "-omics" measurements, metabolomics provides a more immediate and dynamic picture of the functionality (i.e., of the phenotype) of a cell, but is arguably also the most difficult to measure. This is because the metabolome can dynamically react to the environment on a very short time scale (seconds or less), because of the large structural diversity and huge dynamic range of metabolites, because it is not possible to amplify metabolites, and because tagging them with fluorescent labels would distort their normal function.