Exometabolomics

[3] While the same analytical approaches used for profiling metabolites apply to exometabolomics, including liquid-chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), analysis of exometabolites provides specific challenges and is most commonly focused on investigation of the transformations of exogenous metabolite pools by biological systems.

[4] Exometabolomics is also used as a complementary tool with genomic, transcriptomic[5] and proteomic data, to gain insight into the function of genes and pathways.

[8][9][10] However, global exometabolite profiling was only realized with recent advances allowing for improved chromatographic separation and detection of hundreds to thousands of compounds by the mid-2000s.

[7] The first work to demonstrate the biological relevance of comparative profiling of exometabolite pools was not until 2003, when the term "metabolite footprinting" was coined by Jess Allen and coworkers.

[12] As the field of microbiology becomes increasingly more centered on microbial community structure, exometabolomics has provided for rapid understanding of metabolic interactions between two or more species.

[3] As with typical metabolomic measurements, metabolites are identified based on accurate mass, retention time, and their MS/MS fragmentation patterns, in comparison to authentic standards.

PCC 7002 by Baran, et al. revealed that this photoautotroph could deplete a diverse pool of exogenous metabolites.