Harnessing microbial metabolomics for industrial applications

Metabolome defines a set of metabolites present in a biological sample, which provides an immediate and dynamic recording of microbes in response to genetic and/or environmental perturbations. In recent years, metabolomics in combination with other omics diagnostic tools such as genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics is focused on addressing open biological questions that accelerate our understanding of the system as a whole and boost the use of systems metabolic engineering tools in industrial settings. In this review article, we summarize the applications of metabolomics to industrial microbial fermentations with respect to the bulk production of organic acids, amino acids, enzymes, antibiotics and therapeutic proteins. In addition, future prospects regarding metabolomics-assisted research are provided.