Chemical Metabolomics: Chemical Biology Tools for Advanced Metabolism Investigations

Human metabolism has been investigated to understand disease onset for the discovery of new selective pharmaceuticals and the development of diagnostics for early disease detection. Metabolomics, as an interdisciplinary research field, has been implemented to investigate the entirety of the complex metabolite profiles predominantly using mass spectrometry. In the past two decades, the development of chemical biology tools for the detailed metabolism investigation has received a boost to advance metabolomics analyses. Especially, the identification of the microbiome and its importance for human physiology were the main motivation for these strategies. These new tools at the intersection of Chemistry and Biology have especially aided to uncover previously unknown metabolites in humans and have slowly elucidated metabolites produced by microbial communities. These Chemical Biology tools, integrated with metabolomics tools and technologies, build the foundation for Chemical Metabolomics investigations, which have led to the discovery of important metabolites that are modulators or readouts for disease development and human homeostasis. This overview article focuses on the recent developments and the diversity of Chemical Biology tools and technologies, particularly methods involving chemoselective probes, in vivo analysis, host-microbiome co-metabolism, and activity metabolomics, in the context of understanding human metabolism at the molecular level.