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Title: Proposed minimum reporting standards for chemical analysis

Author
item SUMMER, L - SAMUEL ROBERTS NOBLE FOUN
item AMBERG, A - SANOFI-AVENTIS DEUTSCHLAN
item BARRETT, D - UNIV NOTTINGHAM
item BEALE, M - NATL CTR PLANT & MICROBIA
item BEGER, R - NATL CTR TOXICOL RES
item DAYKIN, C - UNIV NOTTINGHAM
item -M.FAN, T - UNIV LOUISVILLE
item FIEHN, O - UNIV CALIFORNIA, DAVIS
item GOODACRE, R - UNIV MANCHESTER
item GRIFFIN, J - UNIV CAMBRIDGE
item HANKEMEIR, T - LEIDEN UNIVERSITY
item HARDY, N - UNIV WALES ABERYSTWYTH
item Harnly, James - Jim
item HIGASHI, R - UNIV LOUISVILLE
item KOPKA, J - MAX PLANCK INST MOLECULAR
item LANE, A - UNIV LOUISVILLE
item LINDON, J - IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON
item MARRIOTT, P - RMIT UNIV
item NICHOLLS, A - GLAXOSMITHKLINE
item REILY, M - PFIZER GLOBAL R&D
item THADEN, J - UNIV ARKANSAS FOR MED SCI
item VIANT, M - UNV BIRMINGHAM

Submitted to: Metabolomics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/27/2007
Publication Date: 9/12/2007
Citation: Summer, L., Amberg, A., Barrett, D., Beale, M., Beger, R., Daykin, C., -M.Fan, T., Fiehn, O., Goodacre, R., Griffin, J., Hankemeir, T., Hardy, N., Harnly, J.M., Higashi, R., Kopka, J., Lane, A., Lindon, J., Marriott, P., Nicholls, A., Reily, M., Thaden, J., Viant, M. 2007. Proposed minimum reporting standards for chemical analysis. Metabolomics. 3:211-221.

Interpretive Summary: Metabolomics, or functional genomics, is a new area of research that focuses on characterizing the metabolites of a tissue or organism. Metabolomics has also been called an inventory of small molecules. Analytically, metabolomics requires extraction, separation, detection, and identification of all molecules. In reality, identification of all molecules is not possible. Regardless, the result of the process is the creation of large data sets that have tremendous potential for future research and must be archived. This data can be more easily used if researchers establish minimum standards for acquisition, reporting, and archiving. This report proposes minimal standards for metabolomics data acquired by mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. These standards will make metabolomics data more useful for all researchers.

Technical Abstract: There is a general consensus that supports the need for standardized reporting of metadata or information describing large-scale metabolomics and other functional genomics data sets. Reporting of standard metadata provides a biological and empirical context for the data, facilitates experimental replication, and enables the re-interrogation and comparison of the data by others. Accordingly, the Metabolomics Standards Initiative is building a general consensus concerning the minimum reporting standards for metabolomics experiments of which the Chemical Analysis Working Group (CAWG) is a member of this community effort. This article proposes the minimum reporting standards related to the chemical analysis aspects of metabolomics experiments including: sample preparation, experimental analysis, quality control, metabolite identification, and data pre-processing. These minimum standards currently focus mostly upon mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy due to the popularity of these techniques in metabolomics. However, additional input concerning other techniques is welcomed and can be provided via the CAWG on-line discussion forum at http://mis-working groups.sourceforge.net.