{"623616":{"#nid":"623616","#data":{"type":"news","title":"The Dark Molecules of Life","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPhysics has dark matter, a form of matter that makes up about 85% of the universe and is composed of as-yet undiscovered particles. Similarly, biology has dark molecules, the unidentified members of the metabolome, which is the totality of small molecules in living organisms.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.annualreviews.org\/doi\/10.1146\/annurev-anchem-061318-114959\u0022\u003Erecent review paper in the Annual Review of Analytical Chemistry\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.chemistry.gatech.edu\/faculty\/fernandez\/\u0022\u003EFacundo Fernandez\u003C\/a\u003E and others describe the challenges of identifying the dark molecules of life. Fernandez is a professor and metabolomics expert in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. We asked Fernandez to tell us more about the dark side of the metabolome.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are the dark molecules of life? Why should we care? \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe dark molecules of biology are products of enzymatic reactions. They include the molecules of primary metabolism \u0026ndash; the network of reactions that enable organisms to live, grow, and reproduce. They also include secondary metabolites, which are compounds not involved in primary metabolic pathways but are produced for defense and interactions with other organisms through chemical signals.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETens of thousands of molecules can be detected in living organisms, but we can only tell what a fraction of them are \u0026ndash; typically less than 10%. Identifying them is key to understanding their roles because they determine how living organisms function and how disease affects them. Our overall well-being depends partly on how the environment and our lifestyle choices progressively expose us to chemicals, beneficial or not.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are the most important dark molecules?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWe don\u0026rsquo;t know yet! They are still in the \u0026ldquo;dark.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBut we know that families of molecules, such as lipids, play a crucial role in many physiological processes. Because of the chemical complexity of lipids, the complement of all lipid molecules \u0026ndash; the lipidome \u0026ndash; is one of the darkest parts of the metabolome \u0026ldquo;universe.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOur current research efforts are geared toward better mapping of these unknown regions of biochemical space. For example, we have been working with the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/hg\/item\/585932\u0022\u003EMolecular Transducers of Physical Activity (MoTrPAC\u003C\/a\u003E) NIH consortium to understand the beneficial effects of exercise by mapping the known and unknown regions of the lipidome in mice and humans. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is the biggest challenge in identifying dark molecules?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe number-one challenge is that we do not yet have a bombproof method for identifying \u003Cem\u003Eany\u003C\/em\u003E metabolite in a high-throughput fashion at the concentration levels that are observed in living organisms.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAlthough chemists have become really good at identifying molecules, this is typically done after extensive purification that could take months, if not years. When we are talking about tens of thousands of molecules, this \u0026ldquo;purify and identify\u0026rdquo; approach does not really work, as it is \u0026nbsp;resource-intensive and time-consuming.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhat we need is the magic tricorder that will give us the identity of any interesting molecule in real time and even at trace levels. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are scientists doing to overcome this challenge?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWe are heavily invested in using mass spectrometry, a technique that is equivalent to a molecular weight scale, to pursue this task.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMass spectrometry has been improving very rapidly and is becoming the tool of choice for both metabolomics and lipidomics. We can now detect molecules at the zeptomole (10\u003Csup\u003E-21 \u003C\/sup\u003Emole) levels routinely. And we can identify a large fraction of them without purification.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBut challenges remain, particularly in deconvoluting the huge amounts of information generated by mass spectrometry data. We are currently in data-overload mode, similar to what happened in genomics and proteomics decades ago.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"What are they and why should we care"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPhysics has dark matter, a form of matter that makes up about 85% of the universe and is composed of as-yet undiscovered particles. Similarly, biology has dark molecules, the unidentified members of the metabolome, which is the totality of small molecules in living organisms.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"What are the dark molecules of life, and why should we care about them?"}],"uid":"30678","created_gmt":"2019-07-22 21:44:45","changed_gmt":"2019-07-23 16:10:44","author":"A. Maureen Rouhi","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-07-25T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-07-25T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"623617":{"id":"623617","type":"image","title":"Facundo Fernandez aims to illuminate the dark side of the metabolome","body":null,"created":"1563832112","gmt_created":"2019-07-22 21:48:32","changed":"1563832112","gmt_changed":"2019-07-22 21:48:32","alt":"","file":{"fid":"237520","name":"Facundo.Fernandez.Capture.PNG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Facundo.Fernandez.Capture.PNG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Facundo.Fernandez.Capture.PNG","mime":"image\/png","size":1972671,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Facundo.Fernandez.Capture.PNG?itok=vAdej-f2"}}},"media_ids":["623617"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/hg\/item\/585932","title":"NIH Taps into \u201cOmics\u201d Capabilities in Atlanta"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/hg\/item\/587954","title":"Triboelectric Nanogenerators Boost Mass Spectrometry Performance"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"85951","name":"School of Chemistry and Biochemistry"}],"categories":[{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"181801","name":"metabolome"},{"id":"11538","name":"Metabolomics"},{"id":"3158","name":"Mass spectrometry"},{"id":"17301","name":"Facundo Fernandez"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA. Maureen Rouhi, Ph.D.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nDirector of Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maureen.rouhi@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}