Environmetallomics: Systematically investigating metals in environmentally relevant media

Systematic and comprehensive methodologies for the analysis of toxic metals in the environment and living organisms are required to bridge a great knowledge gap between metal exposure and related ecological risks or adverse health effects. In this review, the concepts of environmetallomics and the environmetallome are explicitly defined, which was distinctly differentiated from an environmental branch in traditional metallomics. Based on these concepts, this article summarizes and discusses the current research progress and perspectives on analytical approaches and technologies of the metals, which have shown promise in environmetallomics studies. Aspects discussed include the bioavailability, concentrations, speciation and distribution mapping of toxic metals in the ecosphere and even at the cellular and subcellular levels, as well as metal interactions with proteomes and genomes in terms of metalloprotein profiling and bioinformatics analysis. The use and development of systematic, comprehensive and global methodologies in environmetallomics, would enable us to address the key issues of metal pollution in environmental health and toxicology. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.