Analytical Methodology Standards for Metabolomics

The need for standard operating protocols (SOPs) has long been recognized in all branches of analytical chemistry and is especially useful in transferring a given assay from one laboratory to another and for the cross-comparison of results. However, the field of standardized protocols has received renewed interest following the completion of the human genome project and the birth of functional genomics. The use of analytical equipment such as NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry in metabolomics, proteomics, and related functional genomic approaches has led to an increased need to standardize the reporting of data acquisition so that results in one laboratory can be validated in another. Ultimately databases can be produced of experimental data that catalog a tier of cellular organization, and in this manner a systems biology description of the biological world is approached. Given that any true description of the proteome or metabolome must by very definition consider all the changes that occur to these dynamic systems, it becomes clear that a full description will only be achieved by community-led initiatives, and thus standardized protocols become a vital cornerstone of any such endeavor. This article surveys recent developments in the area of standard reporting of protocols in metabolomics. However, to do this, it is first necessary to set the context of standardization of protocols in biology in general and the field of functional genomics in particular.