Development and application of capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry methods to metabolomics

High-throughput and comprehensive analysis of intracellular metabolites can reveal the connection within biochemical networks and provide a systems-level understanding of cell. Metaboiomics, or the global analysis of cellular metabolites, has become a powerful new tool for gaining insight into functional biology. Proteins and metabolites are the main effectors of phenotype and thus the functional entities within the cell. Measurement of the level of numerous metabolites within a cell, and tracking metabolite changes under different conditions not only provides direct information on metabolic phenotypes but is also complementary to gene expression and proteomic studies [1,2]. Although metabolome analysis is indispensable, unlike other functional genomic approaches, very few methods for a largescale metabolite analysis have been developed. Recently, new methods for the comprehensive analysis of charged metabolites by capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE/MS) have been developed. Since CE/MS enables direct and quantitative analysis of most charged metabolites, the methods have attracted a great deal of attention. In this chapter, the principles, applications and prospects of this technology will be discussed.