Metabolomics is the scientific study of chemical processes involving
metabolites. Specifically, metabolomics is the "systematic study of the unique chemical fingerprints that specific cellular processes leave behind", the study of their small-molecule
metabolite profiles. The
metabolome represents the collection of all metabolites in a biological cell, tissue, organ or organism, which are the end products of cellular processes.
mRNA gene expression data and
proteomic analyses reveal the set of gene products being produced in the cell, data that represents one aspect of cellular function. Conversely, metabolic profiling can give an instantaneous snapshot of the physiology of that cell. One of the challenges of
systems biology and
functional genomics is to integrate
proteomic,
transcriptomic, and metabolomic information to provide a better understanding of cellular biology.