The role of reporting standards for metabolite annotation and identification in metabolomic studies

Reza M Salek,Warwick B Dunn,Mark R Viant,Royston Goodacre,Christoph Steinbeck

doi:10.1186/2047-217x-2-13

Abstract

The application of reporting standards in metabolomics allow data from different laboratories to be shared, integrated and interpreted. Although minimum reporting standards related to metabolite identification were published in 2007, it is clear that significant efforts are required to ensure their continuous update and appropriate use by the metabolomics community. These include their use in metabolomics data submission (e.g., MetaboLights) and as a requirement for publication in peer-reviewed journals (e.g., Metabolomics). The Data Standards and Metabolite Identification Task Groups of the international Metabolomics Society are actively working to develop and promote these standards and educate the community on their use.

Highlights

Metabolomics studies focus on the investigation of the complex and dynamic biochemical interactions of metabolites, both with other biochemicals and their environment [1]
It is vital that robust annotation or identification of metabolites in non-targeted studies is performed to maximise their interpretation and impact
With robust annotation or identification, biological interpretation of data can be performed for a single study and data from different studies performed in the same laboratory or different research groups can be compared

Summary

Introduction

Metabolomics studies focus on the investigation of the complex and dynamic biochemical interactions of metabolites, both with other biochemicals and their environment [1]. The chemical analysis working group defined four different levels of metabolite identification observed in the scientific literature. Level 2 and 3 annotation does not require matching to data for authentic chemical standards acquired within the same laboratory.

Results

Conclusion