2013 Single-Cell Metabolomics: Analytical and Biological Perspectives
Background: In recent years, there has been a surge in the development and application of singlecell
genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. The metabolome is defi ned as the
full complement of small-molecule metabolites found in a specifi c cell, organ, or organism. The
most interesting potential application of single-cell metabolomics may be in the area of cancer—for
example, identifi cation of circulating cancer cells that lead to metastasis. Other fi elds where singlecell
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 diffi cult 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 fl uorescent labels would distort
their normal function.
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