Microbiome research is experiencing a focus shift from the microbes to the molecules they produce, as these molecules interact directly with human cells to influence health. However, identifying which molecules an individual’s microbiome makes is challenging. Moreover, a typical metabolomics study can characterize only about 10% of data from a human microbiome sample.
Researchers have now developed "reverse metabolomics," a novel approach combining organic synthesis, data science, and mass spectrometry to analyze molecules secreted by the microbiome and understand their impact on human health. The study identified hundreds of previously unseen molecules in the human body and established a new metabolomic signature for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). By synthesizing diverse molecules, creating their barcodes, and searching for them in metabolomics data, researchers uncovered 145 bile…
