Metabolomics has been defined as the analysis of all metabolites in an organism through the simultaneous detection of all-natural chemical components in a given biological system. With the development of metabolic profiling technologies suitable for large-scale measurements, metabolomics is now playing a significant role in basic plant biology, with its mechanisms, and in applied biotechnology. Plants produce a huge amount of chemicals that have an essential role in the interaction of plants with its natural environment and their ability to adapt. Metabolomics is, therefore, a powerful tool in plant ecology and biodiversity research.
Natural products of plant origin have long been considered a valuable source of lead compounds for drug development. In recent years, metabolomics has emerged as a key tool for the analysis of a variety of bioactive compounds in crude extracts of medicinal or food plants. Chemometric analysis also has applications in the detection of adulterations in herbal and food preparations.
This topic concerns advances in the characterization and chemical profiling of plant secondary metabolites using spectroscopic and spectrometric data. There is a wide range of approaches to metabolomics, which aim to identify natural compounds in plant extracts. Current metabolomics strategies are mainly based on the main approaches: nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)
NMR spectroscopy is a technique that allows the simultaneous detection of the abundant primary metabolites (organic acids, amino acids, and sugars) alongside secondary metabolites (alkaloids, terpenoids, and flavonoids) as typically found in plant natural extracts. In addition, NMR is a very useful technique for the structure elucidation of novel and/or unexpected compounds including those with identical masses and/or different isotopomer distributions
GC-MS has been one of the most popular metabolomics techniques to measure the levels of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds in a wide variety of samples.
Finally, Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) has become the most comprehensive technique to measure a wide range of diverse metabolites from crude extracts, than can be introduced directly to the LC-MS.
Furthermore, the increasing development of statistical methods based on the analytical data, make use of the huge data provided by analytical technologies has implemented the possibility of differentiating species and highlighting specific compounds even in limited quantities
In this research topic, we invite all article types published by Frontiers in Plant Science that contribute to our understanding of the
1. Characterization and chemical profile of natural products from plants;
2. Multivariate data analysis and statistical tools to model plant metabolic profiles and related data;
3. Use of plants and metabolic profiles in the development of technologies and potential applications;
4. Differentiation and classification of metabolic profiles reflecting biochemical mechanisms of plants in response to physiological or pathological conditions;
5. Metabolomics in plant ecology and biodiversity research;
6. Comparison of plant metabolic profiles to detect adulterations of herbal preparations.
Metabolomics has been defined as the analysis of all metabolites in an organism through the simultaneous detection of all-natural chemical components in a given biological system. With the development of metabolic profiling technologies suitable for large-scale measurements, metabolomics is now playing a significant role in basic plant biology, with its mechanisms, and in applied biotechnology. Plants produce a huge amount of chemicals that have an essential role in the interaction of plants with its natural environment and their ability to adapt. Metabolomics is, therefore, a powerful tool in plant ecology and biodiversity research.
Natural products of plant origin have long been considered a valuable source of lead compounds for drug development. In recent years, metabolomics has emerged as a key tool for the analysis of a variety of bioactive compounds in crude extracts of medicinal or food plants. Chemometric analysis also has applications in the detection of adulterations in herbal and food preparations.
This topic concerns advances in the characterization and chemical profiling of plant secondary metabolites using spectroscopic and spectrometric data. There is a wide range of approaches to metabolomics, which aim to identify natural compounds in plant extracts. Current metabolomics strategies are mainly based on the main approaches: nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)
NMR spectroscopy is a technique that allows the simultaneous detection of the abundant primary metabolites (organic acids, amino acids, and sugars) alongside secondary metabolites (alkaloids, terpenoids, and flavonoids) as typically found in plant natural extracts. In addition, NMR is a very useful technique for the structure elucidation of novel and/or unexpected compounds including those with identical masses and/or different isotopomer distributions
GC-MS has been one of the most popular metabolomics techniques to measure the levels of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds in a wide variety of samples.
Finally, Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) has become the most comprehensive technique to measure a wide range of diverse metabolites from crude extracts, than can be introduced directly to the LC-MS.
Furthermore, the increasing development of statistical methods based on the analytical data, make use of the huge data provided by analytical technologies has implemented the possibility of differentiating species and highlighting specific compounds even in limited quantities
In this research topic, we invite all article types published by Frontiers in Plant Science that contribute to our understanding of the
1. Characterization and chemical profile of natural products from plants;
2. Multivariate data analysis and statistical tools to model plant metabolic profiles and related data;
3. Use of plants and metabolic profiles in the development of technologies and potential applications;
4. Differentiation and classification of metabolic profiles reflecting biochemical mechanisms of plants in response to physiological or pathological conditions;
5. Metabolomics in plant ecology and biodiversity research;
6. Comparison of plant metabolic profiles to detect adulterations of herbal preparations.
